Max's Greatest Gift.

The greatest gift I have ever received was given to me for no reason at all by my son, Luke. We were in the mountains on vacation one weekend and the very first shop we entered he found what he wanted to buy. He was willing to pay for the prize himself. Worried that he would later regret the quick spending, I warned him that buying the toy he wanted would take up the majority of his spending money. Luke assured me that he knew what he was doing and I allowed him to take responsibility of his own money.

At a different store later on in the day, Luke became infatuated with a small geode that happened to be one dollar over his budget. He sent me a pitiful look but I stood my ground. Luke would have to learn to manage his money better. But of course, guilt began to eat its way at me. He only needed one more dollar. Not to long afterwards my strong reserve crumbled out from underneath me. I procured a dollar from my wallet and offered it to him. To my surprise, he refused it.

"No thanks Dad," He said, "It just wouldn't feel right."

I was a little confused by the statement. Luke certainly never had trouble taking money from me before. I took it that the lesson I had tried to teach him was well learned, and I congratulated myself for it.

Not long afterward, Luke found something more suited to his budget. It was a polished rock, but unlike any I had ever seen. It was an amber color and its hue was made consistently of sparkles. It was beautiful. Luke paid for it and we made our way outside.

When we reached the curb I felt Luke's little hand slip in and out of my pocket. Upon further investigation, I found he slipped the rock into my pocket.

"I'm not going to carry it for you," I told him, "It's yours. You have to keep up with it."

He looked hurt that I did not understand.

"No, Dad." he explained, "I bought it for you."

It would not be an exaggeration on my part to say that I was stunned. I did not expect to get anything on this trip, let alone a gift. I felt awful. I had made Luke buy his own souvenir and he bought me something too? This was not how it was supposed to work. I was the father. I was supposed to provide for him and I hadn't. I could not think of anything to express just how I felt. What he did had been incredibly sweet and I had been almost unforgivable in comparison. I was furious with myself, but did not let it show.

"For me?" I asked, "Thank you Buddy. But why?"

"Because I love you," He said with a shrug as if it was obvious. Perhaps it was.

This is a 500 word essay done from the point-of-view of my main character from my story, Steel Horizons. I enjoyed writing this because this scenario actually occurred between me and my father. It was fun adapting it to these two characters and puts an emphasis on their deep father-son bond. However it was not fun because it was 500 words minimum, and the words needed to be hand counted. Yuck.