Ice on the sidewalk.

I'm giving my students an assignment. I'm having them attempt to recall their earliest learning memory. As with most assignments I give, I will give them a personal example. Here's mine.

My dad taught me to love.

When I was four or five, my father came home for lunch from work every day. I would wait for him to come home in his '62 Chevy. As I watched from the livingroom window, he would pull up into the driveway and step out of the car and make his way into the house.

He looked the same every day. He had five or six uniforms which he changed into. All of them had a name tag which read "Peter"; all except one. That one read "Pete". I thought maybe a friend picked that one out for him. I never did ask.

He would come inside and I would immediately smell his work. Oil. gas, and grease filled the air. It was a comforting smell. Dad would always head straight for the bathroom where he would always wash his hands using Tide laundry soap. "It takes the stains and the smell away the best", he would say. I tried it once. He was right.

We would sit down for lunch as a family every day. Lunch wasn't always that exciting or filled with all sorts of meaningful conversation, but we were together; and dad was home.

I never wanted him to go back to work when lunch was through, but he had to. That is what he did. That is what all dads do. They all go to work and they all smell like oil, gas, and grease and then go home for lunch.

One hot day I wanted him to take me with him to work after lunch. I was very upset when he said that I couldn't go. Seeing his son so troubled, he said, "Wait here a minute", and went inside, quickly emerging with an ice cube. He put it on the hot sidewalk and said, "I would like you to see if you can watch the ice cube melt until it is all gone." So I did. Meanwhile my dad left for work without me thinking about it.This was obviously a trick to distract me from my pleading to go with him to work, but it was something more. My dad loved me. He wanted me to be happy, and he wanted me to know that he loved me. I felt secure in my father's love.

My dad taught me to love.