A Touch Of Love

I remember when I was a little kid pretty well. My parents did their best to teach me everything they know. As I grow up, the things my mom and dad taught me only become more important. This is one lesson from my dad I think about often in particular.

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As a little kid, my parents always explained the world to me. My curiosity was endless! When I did something bad, both my parents would explain why it was wrong to me. They never got mad. They always wanted to listen first; find out the reasons I did things. I always have had a reason behind the things I do; even as a child. Mom and Dad saw that as an opportunity to get through to me.

When I acted out, Dad would sit me in his lap (often in the kitchen in one of our old metal fold-in chairs). Just to talk to me as usual. He told me that as a parent he can only guide me-that only I have the power to write my own story. He would always say something along the same lines:

”Listen close sweetheart. Each day you are given choices. With each choice, you can do either the right thing or the wrong thing. Each minus takes you farther away from the good path in life. Remember Kara that at the end of the day, all your pluses and minuses add up. They make you who you are”

He’d then tell me that if I chose the pluses every day, I’d stay on the right track.

”However“, Dad would say, “Every time you choose a minus, you go a little farther off the track”. He would use his hands and arms to represent what “going off the track” meant.

“Someday-if you keep choosing minuses”, he continues, “-There will come a point when you have gone so low that you can’t get back to the track”. He would then take one hand and move it far away from one arm to make his point.

Usually I would ask what would happen if I “stayed on the track” or “kept choosing pluses”. Daddy would say I could “win the race”. That sounded pretty good to a little girl.

I remember after listening to this story, I’d ask “How do I know between right and wrong?”.

Dad would answer, “Listen to your heart honey. Act with love, and doing good will come

naturally”.

This has stuck with me my whole life-the simple idea that just a touch of love can change lives. I can tell you from years of experience that it’s true. 100%. At the touch of love, good things begin to happen all around you

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The first time he told me this lesson must have been at least 10 years ago. Today I am just a few months short of 16 years old, yet I still feel like a kindergartener at heart.

My parents have always loved my siblings and I more than anything else in the world. They always have and always will. As each day of my exchange passes, I try to choose plus every time. I really do. Because at the end of the day in my heart, I just want to make my mom and dad proud of me.