The greatest gift I have given didn't cost a single penny, it only cost time. As I planned a party for Dad's 70th birthday, I wrote a list of his accomplishments. He had served our country during the Korean war, he had fathered five children, claiming all of us, he had helped build the Nautilus, the first nuclear submarine. Those were just a few. I wrote down more.

I called the Mayor's office. I wanted a declaration of proclamation from the mayor for his citizenship. He had been born in the city in which he currently lived, all of his children had been born there as well. He had fathered the first triplets to survive in that city.

They asked me to write a list of his accomplishments and send them to him, which I did.

Two weeks later, they had recomposed my list on official city paper, and created a proclamation from the Mayor, signed by the Mayor, proclaiming his citizenship. It looked official, and it was official.

As I picked up the proclamation from the Mayors office, I was filled with tears of joy. This would be the first time he had ever received a declaration from his community, just for being. I asked his brother, the former Mayor to present it to him at the birthday party we gave him, and he did. Dad was moved, and touched. He took the proclamation home, framed it, and hung it on the wall.

We gave him many gifts that day, gifts from the heart, but the greatest gift I gave him was the recognition from his community, the leader of the community, a gift just for being.

Dad passed away three months ago. That proclamation now hangs in his children's home. A reminder of the gift of being, and a reminder that the greatest gifts originate from the heart, not the pocketbook.

Learn more about this author, Tammy Stoner.
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