Sitting in my classroom this morning, enjoying my 50 minute Friday morning plan time by discussing my students’ writing progress with my instructional coach, I noticed her breathtaking new bracelet.
Handcrafted by her little one, she proudly wore the red construction paper cuff, drawn on with orange markers, scotch-taped together at the seam. Upon complement of the bracelet, she explained that there was a coordinating arm band, too, but that one didn’t make it with today’s ensemble. What a proud little girl her daughter must have been, this morning when Mommy said she wanted to wear her new bracelet, and show it off to all of her teacher friends. This reminded me of when I was that proud little girl, handing my dad a necklace full of multi-color beads, strung together without a care for pattern or style. I had painstakingly dug through the bead bin at our house and filled that cord with the most beautiful beads for my daddy. Even the lettered beads that haphazardly spelled out things like “dog” or “dad” or even sometimes “abjheru” just because that was aesthetically pleasing to my little eyes. Round beads, square beads, flower and heart beads...green beads, orange beads, and even a few wooden beads, if he was lucky! Looking up at my dad, beaming, offering him this statement piece, he happily put it around his neck. Even though it hung to his belly button, and probably would have interfered with his daily tasks, he assured me he would love to wear it to work. I wonder if he said, about me, “She so little and cute, you can’t say no to her.” like my friend lovingly joked about her daughter. I’d watch out the window at a quarter-to-four, the time my dad would pull in the driveway and walk toward the door, coffee mug and lunchbox in hand, and scan hopefully for the necklace. Never, ever did he let me down. To this day, he will explain that he didn’t care one bit what his coworkers would say, and that he did, in fact, wear it all day if he said he would. Now, more recently, he has admitted to me, though, that he may have tucked it into his shirt...but that, of course was only so it didn’t get in his way while he worked.
7 Comments
3/10/2017 11:53:39 am
Oh gosh, I'm crying.
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Kelly dennis
3/10/2017 08:03:50 pm
Tears again Melody! I can not wait for Madelyn to make things for me and have these beautiful memories!
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3/10/2017 09:24:15 pm
This really is a love letter to your dad. I love the teacher story lead-in, yet hearing about that bead necklace is a treasure of a story. Well done!
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3/11/2017 12:12:01 am
I love how you weaved a moment from today into a memory from the past. You did it so effortlessly, too! You have a really sweet dad! :)
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Author5th grade teacher, wife, mama to my 3 magical babies, ally, advocate, doggy foster mom... just stumbling on. Archives
March 2022
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