My Fatherly Influence
Happy belated Father’s Day to everyone out there! If you’re not a father, I’m sure there is a father or a father figure in this world or the next who is special to you. Remember them kindly.
Though my own two boys are now adults, I still hope my influence as a father to them was positive. This past week, while cleaning out an old store-room, we came across a typewritten letter my youngest son Scott must have composed when he was a mere child, probably fifth grade.
Perhaps it was a classroom assignment, as it appeared to be a letter written to his hero. I thought it timely to re-print it here, not only because of Father’s Day, but because the letter mentions Spiderman from the movie that’s out now, as well as the incredibly evil arch-villain Venom (that’s Venom with Spiderman in the accompanying artwork here).
Here is what he wrote (I corrected spelling, punctuation, etc., but the words are his):
“Dear Venom,
“I am a fan of yours. I have your action figure and a poster, and I draw you all the time.
I have a question for you. Who do you hate the most besides Spiderman? What do you plan to do after you have killed Spiderman?
If you have extra of some of the Promethium X, can I have some? And if you have some of that web-slinging stuff left over, can I have some of it also?
I’ll trade you a very good picture of you strangling Spiderman for some of that Prometheum X stuff or some of the web-slinging stuff (with instructions) . But I’d prefer the Promethium X stuff. OK?
Sincerely,
Scott”
By the way, I looked up Promethium X and it’s a powerful energy rock, more power than Plutonium. I’m not sure what he intended to do with the stuff—not sell it to Iran or North Korea, I’m sure. But since Scott is in Russia right now, I can’t ask him.
Awwwww, I’m looking down at this old letter here and I see Scott must have borrowed my “Thank you” rubber stamp, since there’s a big red “Thank you” stamped at the bottom of his letter to Venom.
Politeness and gratitude. My influence as a father shines through.
Though my own two boys are now adults, I still hope my influence as a father to them was positive. This past week, while cleaning out an old store-room, we came across a typewritten letter my youngest son Scott must have composed when he was a mere child, probably fifth grade.
Perhaps it was a classroom assignment, as it appeared to be a letter written to his hero. I thought it timely to re-print it here, not only because of Father’s Day, but because the letter mentions Spiderman from the movie that’s out now, as well as the incredibly evil arch-villain Venom (that’s Venom with Spiderman in the accompanying artwork here).
Here is what he wrote (I corrected spelling, punctuation, etc., but the words are his):
“Dear Venom,
“I am a fan of yours. I have your action figure and a poster, and I draw you all the time.
I have a question for you. Who do you hate the most besides Spiderman? What do you plan to do after you have killed Spiderman?
If you have extra of some of the Promethium X, can I have some? And if you have some of that web-slinging stuff left over, can I have some of it also?
I’ll trade you a very good picture of you strangling Spiderman for some of that Prometheum X stuff or some of the web-slinging stuff (with instructions) . But I’d prefer the Promethium X stuff. OK?
Sincerely,
Scott”
By the way, I looked up Promethium X and it’s a powerful energy rock, more power than Plutonium. I’m not sure what he intended to do with the stuff—not sell it to Iran or North Korea, I’m sure. But since Scott is in Russia right now, I can’t ask him.
Awwwww, I’m looking down at this old letter here and I see Scott must have borrowed my “Thank you” rubber stamp, since there’s a big red “Thank you” stamped at the bottom of his letter to Venom.
Politeness and gratitude. My influence as a father shines through.
posted by Big Dave T @ 5:06 PM
17 Comments:
Great Story. Thanks for sharing it. Happy Belated Father's Day.
Happy Father's Day (late)! Your definitely a great influence on your children!
You never do know where your influence ends up. Very nice story, thanks for sharing.
Who knows what thoughts lurk in the minds of boys Dave?
That is a very sweet letter. I have kept some of my daughter's letters to Santa Claus for the future. Sometimes we would actually go to the post office and mail them out, since it was important to her to know that Santa was getting her letter!
I would put the return address on the envelope hoping the post office would return a letter sent to the North Pole, but they never did.
Big Dave,
That's great! I have letters also that my son's wrote to Santa and from Camp. I think all boys dream and want to have 'super-power'...and then they grow up and find that power within! Scott is finding his power now. I hope he has the power to get water soon. I'm sure he's homesick as well. We never know what influence we have on our kids till they leave home. You must be very proud.
This was so cute. Isn't it fun to find things like that years later done by your kids.
And yup...I'd say your DNA runs stong in your son.
It's fun to find stuff like that...memories are made and kept from such moments.
Happy Belated fathers Day Dave - Scott was a charmer even back then. I love finding stuff from when Jon was a little boy...sometimes it can make me melancholy for time passes so very quickly. thanks again for sharing your life, love and laughs with us.
It's a late fathers day salutation but here goes.....Happy Fathers day!
You son sounds like a normal kid to me. I'm sure some of your good traits rubbed off on him. I know that I learned a lot from my dad and I sure did miss him on Father's day. I think, as parents, that we hope our kids learn good things from us.
His creative, SPARTAN intellect shines through, too.
I hope you had a good Father's Day, Big Dave!
Are you sure he wasn't planning to blow the house up?
Late to the party but I'm laughing at this funny sweet letter- and also that you own/use a red "Thank you" stamp. I bet you save that for your credit card bills...
I suspect little boys want the super power before they have any organized plan for what to do with it...
Hope the Russia trip is going well. Chilly in Chicago today- for you tomorrow? And then a heat wave moving east.
Thank you so much for writing that. I am a huge fan of the magic words "please" and "thank you". If you don't teach your kids anything else, just make sure they have nice manners. That can get a person a long way in life.
LMAO! That was way too cute!
But I've discovered politeness and gratitude don't mean shit in Russia.
Happy Fathers Day Dad.
you raised him to become a Spartan so I would say you did an
excellent job!
Post a Comment
<< Home