Daddys Heroes

 As the dad of a 2-year-old boy, I enjoyed reading bedtime stories each night with my son.  I found, however, that I was always searching through huge piles of books for the perfect story to read to him; something was missing.A good story and the way it’s received is very much dependent on its delivery.  With enough enthusiasm and excitement, the reader can catch a young child’s attention and help drive the imagination.  A story well told can evoke that “sparkle” in a child’s eyes.  Though my son and I were spending quality time in an activity that we both enjoyed, I didn’t feel I was capturing his attention.  I had difficulty connecting with the books I read to him and, in turn, couldn’t tap into his imagination.  I was frustrated that there was no “sparkle”. Then one night, we had a breakthrough.  My son asked me to tell him a story about baseball.  Since we did not have any baseball books, and because I have zero imagination, I told him a true story about my favorite baseball team – the 1980 championship-winning Philadelphia Phillies.  As I recounted Mike Schmidt’s towering homeruns, Pete Rose’s head-first slides and Tug McGraw raising his arms in victory following the last out of the World Series, I could feel my excitement growing as I relived those memorable moments.  I was a child again.  But what was even more exciting was the look in my son’s eyes as I told the story – there was that elusive “sparkle!”  Needless to say, at bedtime from that night on I was sure to hear the familiar question, “Daddy, will you tell me a baseball story?” – and Daddy’s Heroes was born.  T.G.