It had been some time since Jack had seen the old man. College, girls, career,
\nand life itself got the way.
\nIn fact, Jack moved clear across the country in pursuit of his dreams.
\nThere, in the rush of his busy life, Jack had little time to think about the past and often no time to spend with his wife and son.
\nHe was working on his future, and nothing could stop him.
\nOver the phone, his mother told him, \u201cMr. Belser died last night. The funeral is Wednesday.\u201d
\nMemories flashed through his mind like an old newsreel as he sat quietly remembering his childhood days.<\/p>\n
\u201dJack, did you hear me?\u201d<\/p>\n
Oh, sorry, Mom. Yes, I heard you. It\u2019s been so long since I thought of him. I\u2019m sorry,
\nbut I honestly thought he died years ago.
\n\u201dWell, he didn\u2019t forget you. Every time I saw him he\u2019d ask how you were doing. He\u2019d reminisce about the many days you spent over \u2018his side of the fence\u2019 as he put it,\u201d Mom told him.<\/p>\n
\u201dI loved that old house he lived in,\u201d Jack said.<\/p>\n
\u201dYou know, Jack, after your father died, Mr. Belser stepped in to make sure you had a man\u2019s influence in your life,\u201d she said<\/p>\n
\u201dHe\u2019s the one who taught me carpentry,\u201d he said.. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be in this business if it weren\u2019t for him.
\nHe spent a lot of time teaching me things he thought were important…. Mom, I\u2019ll be there for the funeral,\u201d Jack said.<\/p>\n
As busy as he was, he kept his word. Jack caught the next flight to his hometown. Mr. Belser\u2019s funeral was small and uneventful. He had no children of his own, and most of his relatives had passed away.<\/p>\n
The night before he had to return home, Jack and his Mom stopped by to see the old house next door one more time.<\/p>\n
Standing in the doorway, Jack paused for a moment. It was like crossing over into another dimension, a leap through space and time. The house was exactly as he remembered. Every step held memories. Every picture, every piece of furniture….<\/p>\n
Jack stopped suddenly.<\/p>\n
\u201dWhat\u2019s wrong, Jack?\u201d his Mom asked.<\/p>\n
\u201dThe box is gone,\u201d he said<\/p>\n
\u201dWhat box?\u201d Mom asked.<\/p>\n
\u201dThere was a small gold box that he kept locked on top of his desk.<\/p>\n
I must have asked him a thousand times what was inside. All he\u2019d ever tell me was \u2018the thing I value most,\u2019\u201d Jack said.<\/p>\n
It was gone. Everything about the house was exactly how Jack remembered it, except for the box.
\nHe figured someone from the Belser family had taken it.<\/p>\n
\u201dNow I\u2019ll never know what was so valuable to him,\u201d Jack said. \u201cI better get some sleep. I have an early flight home, Mom.\u201d<\/p>\n
It had been about two weeks since Mr. Belser died.<\/p>\n
Returning home from work one day Jack discovered a note in his mailbox. \u201cSignature required on a package. No one at home. Please stop by the main post office within the next three days,\u201d the note read..<\/p>\n
Early the next day Jack retrieved the package. The small box was old and looked like it had been mailed a hundred years ago. The handwriting was difficult to read, but the return address caught his attention. \u201cMr. Harold Belser\u201d it read. Jack took the box out to his car and ripped open the package.
\nThere inside was the gold box and an envelope. Jack\u2019s hands shook as he read the note inside.<\/p>\n
\u201dUpon my death, please forward this box and its contents to Jack Bennett. It\u2019s the thing I valued most in my life.\u201d
\nA small key was taped to the letter. His heart racing, as tears filling his eyes, Jack carefully unlocked the box, there inside he found a beautiful gold pocket watch.<\/p>\n
Running his fingers slowly over the finely etched casing, he unlatched the cover. Inside he found these words engraved:<\/p>\n
\u201dJack, Thanks for your time! -Harold Belser.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201dThe thing he valued most was…my time\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack held the watch for a few minutes, then called his office and cleared his appointments for the next two days. \u201cWhy?\u201d Janet, his assistant asked.<\/p>\n
\u201dI need some time to spend with my son,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201dOh, by the way, Janet, thanks for your time!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201dLife is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away,\u201d<\/p>\n
Think about this. You may not realize it, but it\u2019s 100% true.<\/p>\n
1. At least 2 people in this world love you so much they would die for you.<\/p>\n
2. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.<\/p>\n
3. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don\u2019t like you.<\/p>\n
4. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep..<\/p>\n
5. You mean the world to someone.<\/p>\n
6. If not for you, someone may not be living.<\/p>\n
7. You are special and unique.<\/p>\n
8. When you think you have no chance of getting what you want, you probably won\u2019t get it<\/p>\n
9. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good can still come from it.<\/p>\n
10. When you think the world has turned its back on you, take a look: you most likely turned
\nyour back on the World\u2019<\/p>\n
11. Someone that you don\u2019t even know exists loves you.<\/p>\n
12. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.<\/p>\n
13. Always tell someone how you feel about them; you will feel much better when they know and appreciate.<\/p>\n
14. You’ve a great friend, take the time to let them know that they are great.<\/p>\n
Send this letter to all the people you care about, if you do so, you will certainly brighten someone\u2019s day. and might change their perspective on life…for the better. To everyone I sent this to\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks for your time\u201d S&F Norm<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It had been some time since Jack had seen the old man. College, girls, career, and life itself got the way. In fact, Jack moved clear across the country in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":5203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-educator"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses.jpg",1920,601,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses.jpg",1920,601,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses.jpg",1920,601,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses-300x94.jpg",300,94,true],"large":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses-1024x321.jpg",1024,321,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses-1536x481.jpg",1536,481,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses.jpg",1920,601,false],"penci-single-full":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses.jpg",1920,601,false],"penci-slider-full-thumb":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses.jpg",1920,601,false],"penci-full-thumb":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses-1170x366.jpg",1170,366,true],"penci-slider-thumb":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses-1170x601.jpg",1170,601,true],"penci-magazine-slider":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses-780x516.jpg",780,516,true],"penci-thumb":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses-585x390.jpg",585,390,true],"penci-masonry-thumb":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses-585x183.jpg",585,183,true],"penci-thumb-square":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses-585x585.jpg",585,585,true],"penci-thumb-vertical":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses-480x601.jpg",480,601,true],"penci-thumb-small":["https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/neighbors-houses-263x175.jpg",263,175,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"MasterMason","author_link":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/author\/mastermason\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"The Educator<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"It had been some time since Jack had seen the old man. College, girls, career, and life itself got the way. In fact, Jack moved clear across the country in…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashlarcollege.ca\/ashlar-archived\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}