[00:00.29]6.Love in a Paper Bag

[00:05.52]It was Molly’s job to hand her father his brown paper lunch bag each morning before he headed off to work.

[00:13.36]One morning, in addition to his usual lunch bag, Molly handed him a second paper bag.

[00:20.33]This one was worn and held together with staples, and paper clips.

[00:25.11]“Why two bags?” her father asked.

[00:28.60]“The other is something else,” Molly answered.

[00:32.63]“What’s in it?”

[00:34.70]“Just some stuff. Take it with you.”

[00:38.41]Not wanting to discuss the matter, he stuffed both sacks into his briefcase, kissed Molly and rushed off.

[00:47.23]At midday he opened Molly’s bag and took out the contents:

[00:51.79]two hair ribbons, three small stones, a plastic dinosaur, a tiny sea shell, a small doll, and 13 pennies...

[01:02.91]The busy father smiled, finished eating, and swept the desk clean into the wastebasket, Molly’s stuff included.

[01:12.38]That evening, Molly ran up behind him as he read the paper.

[01:17.50]“Where’s my bag?”

[01:19.02]“What bag?”

[01:20.87]“The one I gave you this morning.”

[01:23.27]“I left it at the office. Why?”

[01:27.08]“I forgot to put this note in it,” she said.

[01:30.13]“And, besides, Daddy, the things in the sack are the things I really like — I thought you might like to play with them.

[01:37.97]You didn’t lose the bag, did you, Daddy?”

[01:40.58]“Oh, no,” he said, lying. “I just forgot to bring it home. I’ll bring it tomorrow.”

[01:47.66]While Molly hugged her father’s neck, he unfolded the note that read: “I love you, Daddy.”

[01:55.03]Molly had given him her treasures — all that a 7-year-old held dear.

[02:01.45]Love in a paper bag, and he missed it — not only missed it, but had thrown it in the wastebasket.

[02:10.93]So back he went to the office. Just ahead of the night janitor, he picked up the wastebasket.

[02:17.14]He put the treasures inside and carried it home gingerly.

[02:21.49]The bag didn’t look so good, but the stuff was all there and that’s what counted.

[02:28.13]After dinner, he asked Molly to tell him about the stuff in the sack.

[02:32.60]It took a long time to tell. Everything had a story or a memory.

[02:37.74]“Sometimes I think of all the marvelous times in this sweet life,” he mused.

[02:43.65]We should all remember that it’s not the destination that counts in life, but the JOURNEY.

[02:49.01]That journey with the people we love is all that really matters.

[02:54.04]It is such a simple truth but it is so easily forgotten.