| Words To Live By |
The young man stood in front of the house, watching as his grandmother stood on the porch, painting a picture that he could not see.
When the old woman seemed not to notice his presence, he cleared his throat and began,
"Grandma, you have raised me well these last thirty years and well, there a just a few things I need to know. As you know, I am getting married tomorrow and not long after that, I will have a child of my own to raise.'
He paused, waiting for some kind of reaction but the old woman did not take her eyes off of the painting, so he sighed and continued.
"I know that I wasn't the easiest boy to raise. In grade school, I did whatever it took to get sent to the principal. I broke all the rules and failed all my classes. I cheated in gym and played pranks on all the others kids. In Middle school and High school, I was no better, if anything I was worse. I tried everything from smoking to snorting. I drank and partied and you even had to bail me out of jail at least half a dozen times."
Again he paused and again the old woman said nothing.
"Look, I know that after everything I put you through, you must see me as a screw-up and a waste,"
At this the old woman put down her paints, looked him straight in the eye, and said, "Now wait just a moment."
Although the words should have sounded harsh, they fell gently on his ears because when he looked up, much to his surprise, he saw that she was smiling.
"For the last thirty years, I have raised you as I did my own children. I gave you the freedom to do whatever you liked and act however you wanted, and when you were in trouble, I bailed you out and set you loose on the world again. Even though there were people who said that I was unfit to raise you and that you would grow up to be nothing more than a troublemaker, I didn't listen to them and instead I let you be yourself mainly because I knew this day would come.Tomorrow you get married and I couldn't be more proud of who you are now."
"But how did you know?" interrupted the man, "How did you know I would turn out all right?"
"Because, you have to be young and stupid before you can be old and wise." |
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posted by shanfan5690 at 
