Just the other day, a friend gifted me with a homemade cherry chocolate pie. Yes, that’s right... made from scratch! And this was the first homemade cherry chocolate pie I’d ever eaten in my life.

The first bite instantly took me back to my days as a paperboy.

When I was 10 years old, my brother Mike and I delivered papers for the Southern Illinoisian.

We started with only 29 customers... and our main objective was to surpass Jackie Peeler and the Cairo Evening Citizen.

His route had around one hundred customers. And Jackie would throw their papers either in the yard or near the house.

Dad said, "You are to never, ever do that. You walk up to their home, open the screen door, and place the paper inside the door. If they don’t have  a screen door, simply lay it on the porch right in front of the door. If it rains, you don't have to worry about it getting wet... and your customers won’t have to come out in the yard to search for their paper. People like that."

So, that's what we did.

Dad was right. Our customers appreciated the extra effort. Every now and then, a customer would tip us a nickel, dime, or quarter... and occasionally,  a few of them would give me and Mike a box of cherry chocolates.

Mind you, this was back when the box was chock full of cherry chocolates, and not a bunch of space-takin’ plastic to keep ‘em separated.

And good golly Miss Molly, they were delicious.

Thanks to the wisdom of my father, we grew that route to 109 customers. The newspaper even gave us an award.

Our father taught us the importance of a strong work ethic and that your word is your bond.

If you promised a customer that you were gonna deliver their paper, nothing else got in the way of doing just that. When that day’s task was finished - and if you had time left over – then you could do other things that you wanted to do. But the work came first.   

My father lived a short life. He was only 56 when he died. But, in his time on this earth, he blessed me with at least a hundred years-worth of wisdom. Come to think of it, I can attribute every successful life lesson I’ve ever learned to my father. I consider myself lucky to have been his son.

My dad was a great father. He laid the foundation of the man I am today.

I hope, someday, your kids tell a similar story about you.

Be well. Stay well. Thanks for readin’.

Francis Pass

P.S. – Happy Father’s Day, Dad.