"Dad, heer is a present just for the heck of it. Love, Ellen."

We recently visited my dad's office while in Lexington, and I found this on his shelves. It is an envelope holding a little heart that I made for him out of play-doh (now in about 15 little pieces). In case there was any question about what it was, I attached a sticky-note to it that reads, "Dad heer is a present just for the heck of it. Love, Ellen." I remember putting this together with my mom and being so excited for my dad to get home from work to see it! Mom, 20+ years later, I am a little embarrassed that you didn't make me fix my spelling error...

I also have a vivid memory of those elephant sticky-notes. If you recall, elephants used to be my favorite animal (that is, before the dreaded "National Geographic incident"--see my first post). I loved those sticky notes! I also vividly remember my "Ellen" stamp that I used to sign the envelope. I had a lot of fun with that stamp. There was never any question about what belonged to me in my household.

It's funny how the little things we do sometimes have the biggest effect on people. Who would have thought that my dad would keep this for 20+ years right on display in his office. I love my parents because they love me enough to keep old, crumbling bits of play-doh that I made for them "just for the heck of it."

I just hope they weren't quite as affected by all the bratty things I did, too...