While Going Through My File
Nov 20th, 2006 by Don Ray
I was going through my file today when I came upon a letter that I received from my daughter when she was in college. My how things have changed. Today, I would not get a letter; does anyone still write letters? Today, this would have been an email.
Maybe some of you that have or have had children in college can relate to getting a letter such as this.
Dear Mom and Dad
I haven’t written for a while and thought I should make you aware of a few things.
Last week my roommate and I were smoking pot and I caught the bed on fire. Before the fire could be brought under control, the whole west wing of the dorm had burned to the ground. Two days later the Dean advised me that I should look for another school to finish my education.
Luckily, Bruce has been by my side and he has been a great consolation. I met Bruce at one of my weekly alcoholics anonymous meetings.
Bruce has asked me to move to Alaska with him when the baby is born. His father runs a filling station there and we can live in the room above the garage.
I will have to write more later. There appears to be a policeman at the door who wants to speak to me.
Your daughter,
Kim
P.S. I don’t smoke pot. I didn’t burn the dorm down. I haven’t been expelled from school. I’m not pregnant. I don’t know a boy named Bruce. I am not moving to Alaska. However, I did get my semester grades and I got 1 F, 3Ds, and 1 B and just wanted to put things in perspective.
One of the things we who have children must remember, as you well know, Don Ray, is that we must remain ever vigilant against the possibility that our offspring may become better than we are. In your own case, evidently, this is a matter of assuring that you remain the greater wiseacre. No es verdad?
Hmmmm, Let me ponder this a bit.
Hey Don, I do not know who is the luckier, you or me. I still get them(e-mails like you said)from my 4 kids and they are all over 30 years old. I have received one from my 11 year old Panamanion daughter last year in jest to see how I would react. Was she ever surprised when I marched her right back to school and almost into the principals office before she told me the truth. What she told me was she got caught smoking a cigarette in the girls bathroom along with 4 friends, was suspended for two weeks.Our lesson to her was to sit her down, give her a cigarette and matches and asked her to light up. After 1 puff we allowed her to put it out. Believe it or not we received a hand made thank you note from her which is hanging in our bedroom.
Well, I guess you have them under control.
When we lived in Scotland, my nine years old son
said to me:”Mom, you have told a lie to me!” What, I asked and he told, that his woman teacher had said:
“Scottish wisky is the best drink in the world” and you have said, it tastes bad, you told a lie.
I gave to him a little whisky and asked him to drink it. You can guess, after that the teacher was a liar.
He really does not love whisky even today