My answer came on Father' s Day. To coin an old saying， "It' s not the gift but the thought that counts." So it was on this day when I was given two craft boxes as gifts from my grown daughter， one the size of a cigar box and the other the size of a large ring box. "Daddy， " she said， "please sit with me on the floor like you did years before." So we sat down upon the floor together and she handed me the first box. "Open it." Inside was a letter and what appeared to be a child' s collection of odds and ends. "Daddy， " she said， "read the letter first."
Dear Dad，
The older I get the more I realize what an important influence you' ve been in my life. So for Father' s Day I decided to give you two memento boxes， both filled with special memories and things I keep close to my heart， things that you once gave me. In the first and larger box you will find just a few of my special reminders of you and times we shared together just we two.
1.A pair of shoestrings tied with a bow. These are reminders of the hours you spent teaching me to tie my own shoes so long ago.
2.A Band-Aid， to remind me of all the scrapes and cuts you fixed on my elbows and knees teaching me to ride my first bike.
3.A wee storybook， for all the special made-up bedtime stories you read to us all at night.
4.A pack of a child' s learning flash cards， a symbol of your teaching me and helping me through my years of school even when I thought I knew it all.
5.A marble. I wish it was one of the ones you gave to me and I lost， from your special ones you played with when you were in school.
6.A sewing kit and a wee sewing machine reminds me of the real ones you gave me and on which you taught me how to sew.
7.A piece from my childhood blanket that you would always cover me up with each and every night.
8.A broken heart， symbol of all the broken hearts and heartaches you helped me through.