When Brenna Martin graduated from high school, her parents gave her the most incredible gift possible. One they had hidden for 13 years!
Her father, Brian, explained that when Brenna started kindergarten, he was a high school principal and that he took the idea from a fiction book a parent had shown him. That parent did something similar, he asked a couple of teachers to sign that book for their child, but Brian thought of something even nicer.
“I thought, it wouldn’t be great if I extended this, if I made all her teachers write something about her, start with the educators and finish with her high school teachers,” he said. When the book was given to her as a graduation gift, Brenna thought it was a boring gift, but when she opened it she discovered that the pages of that fiction book called “Places to Go” (a children’s book by Dr. Seuss, first published in 1990), were full of personalized comments from all the teachers she had had all her life, including the principals of the schools where she had studied, or the coaches of the sports she had practiced. A parenting job that lasted 13 years!
One of her coaches wrote, for example: “Never stop running in the race of life, no matter what obstacles you face. Continue to be the dedicated person I know, so I’m sure you will succeed. It was great to be a coach the year I had you as a student. ” – Coach Baker
Here is what the girl confessed about the gift and how she told it all: “I finished high school this week. When Dad said he had a present for me, I thought it was just a tear-jerker. But what I received is truly invaluable. After the graduation ceremony, he handed me a bag of books. I smiled, I said it means a lot to me because I love that book. But then he told me to open it.
On the first page, I read a little paragraph written by my first kindergarten teacher. I started to cry, but I was still confused. Then he told me what he did, he managed to keep this secret for 13 years and it seems like everyone in my life knew about it.
I started crying out loud. I sat and read everything, all the words of encouragement of all the people I respected all my life, all the ones I will always love. I noticed that almost everyone mentioned my humor and my love for life.
It’s great to receive something so emotional and nostalgic. I can’t even say how much I love my father for what he did. “
Share this story about love and life, it’s really worth it!