您好!欢迎访问每日学习网! 字典 词典 诗词
首页 英语 英语阅读:Words from A Loving Father

英语阅读:Words from A Loving Father

时间:2024-07-19 22:25:19 来源:网络 作者:mrcsb 人气:
【导读】:IN THE DOORWAY of my home, I looked closely at the face of my 23-year-old son, Daniel, his backpack by his side. We were saying good-bye. In a few hours he woul...

IN THE DOORWAY of my home, I looked closely at the face of my 23-year-old son, Daniel, his backpack by his side. We were saying good-bye. In a few hours he would be flying to France. He would be staying there for at least a year to learn another language and experience life in a different country.

It was a transitional time in Daniel's life, a passage, a step from college into the adult world. I wanted to leave him with words that would have some meaning, some significance beyond the moment.

But nothing came from my lips. No sound broke the stillness of my beachside home on Long Island. Outside, I could hear the shrill cries of sea gulls as they circled the ever-changing surf. Inside, I stood frozen and quiet, looking into the searching eyes of my son.

What made it more difficult was that I knew this was not the first time I had let such a moment pass. When Daniel was five, I took him to the school-bus stop on his first day of kindergarten. I felt the tension in his hand holding mine as the bus turned the corner. I saw color flush his cheeks as the bus pulled up. His questioning eyes looked up at mine.

What is it going to be like, Dad? Can I do it? Will I be okay? And then he walked up the steps of the bus and disappeared inside. And the bus drove away. And I had said nothing.

A decade or so later, a similar scene played itself out. With his mother, I drove him to the College of William and Mary in Virginia. His first night, he went out with his new schoolmates. When he met us the next morning, he was sick. He was coming down with mononucleosis, but we could not know that then. We thought he had a hangover.

In his room, Dan lay stretched out on his bed as I started to leave for the trip home. I tried to think of something to say to give him some courage and confidence as he started this new phase of life.

Again, words failed me. I mumbled something like, "Hope you feel better, Dan." And I left.

Now, as I stood before him, I thought of those lost opportunities. How many times have we all let such moments pass?

A parent dies, and, instead of giving a eulogy ourselves, we let a clergyman speak. A child asks if Santa Claus is real, or where babies come from, and, embarrassed, we slough it off. When a daughter graduates or a son is married, we watch them go through the motions of the ceremony. But we don't seek out our children and find a quiet moment to tell them what they have meant to us. Or what they might expect to face in the years ahead.

How fast the years had passed. Daniel was born in New Orleans, slow to walk and talk, and small of stature. He was the tiniest in his class, but he developed a warm, outgoing nature and was popular with his peers. He was coordinated and agile, and he became adept in sports.

Baseball gave him his earliest challenge. He was an outstanding pitcher in Little League, expecting to make it big in high school. It didn't happen that way. He failed to move up from the junior varsity team. But he stuck it out. Eventually, as a senior, he moved up to the varsity. He won half the team's games. At graduation, the coach named Daniel the team's most valuable player.

文章标签:
    英语学习,英语阅读
相关推荐
  • 2024国民音乐教育大会 音乐教育迎来“ai时光”
    2024国民音乐教育大会 音乐教育迎来“ai时光”

    2024国民音乐教育大会昨天在华东师范大学开幕,大会以“音乐教育‘ai’时光”为主题,围绕音乐教育核心议题,整合各界资源,直面当今音乐教育全产业链面临的形势与问题,深入研究、交流音乐教育的理念、内容、方法与途径。...

  • 出国留学咨询什么?
    出国留学咨询什么?

    出国留学咨询包括:留学费用、留学签证、留学申请、语言能力、文化差异等多个方面的留学咨询问题,只有了解了出国留学流程以后,我们才能够清楚的如何申请留学。以下具体介绍下出国留学咨询什么?...

  • 北京关于调整自学考试相关课程考试安排及教材信息的通知
    北京关于调整自学考试相关课程考试安排及教材信息的通知

    根据教育部教育考试院《关于调整高等教育自学考试“设计概论”等4门课程2024年10月考试安排的通知》(教考函字〔2024〕43号)精神及相关主考学校意见,决定对相关课程考试安排及推荐教材做如下调整:...

  • 北京2024年高考招生录取政策
    北京2024年高考招生录取政策

    为做好我市2024年普通高等学校(以下简称高校)招生工作,根据《教育部关于做好2024年普通高校招生工作的通知》(教学〔2024〕2号)等有关文件精神,结合本市情况,作如下规定。...

版权声明:

1、本文系会员投稿或转载自网络,版权归原作者所有,旨在传递信息,不代表看本站的观点和立场;

2、本站仅提供信息展示,不承担相关法律责任;

3、若侵犯您的版权或隐私,请联系本站管理员删除。

高考 自考 留学 英语 字典 词典 成语 古诗 造句 作文 地图