The most beautiful story ever told?
[Hankies at the ready folks]
This is a story about an Amercan couple who have two children, a boy and a girl. The husband works in the power generation industry. He hates his job, but it's reasonably well paid, so he puts up with it in order to provide for his family. But when, at last, the mortgage on their house is paid off, he does a few sums and realises the family could now survive on a smaller salary. He soon takes up a new post in the leisure industry, but not before celebrating his departure by humiliating his old boss in front of his fellow workers. He loves his new job, it suits his personality down to the ground. A whole new atmosphere of peace and contentment settles over the family. One evening, he takes his wife for a romantic picnic on the beach. When they get home they find they have to remove their clothes because the sand has got everywhere, and ... well ... one thing leads to another!
Nine months later, the wife gives birth to a beautiful baby girl. The man is over the moon, and dearly loves the new addition to his family. But as time goes by, he realises that the family finances are very finely balanced, and it's impossible to make ends meet now the family is larger. Finally, he is forced to do the thing he dreads the most. He goes back to his old boss on his hands and knees and begs for his old job back. The boss agrees, but needless to say, makes the man eat a great deal of humble pie first. He even has a special plaque made to hang over the man's workplace to taunt him. It says "Don't forget you're here for ever".
So, as the man one day explains to his older children, the new arrival has cost him his dream, but he wouldn't change a thing because he loves her so dearly. "But if you love her so much, why are there no pictures of her around the house?" his son wants to know. "That's because I keep them where I need them the most!" It's true, he has covered every inch of his workplace with pictures of his baby girl. Some of them overlap the plaque, covering some of its letters. It no longer says "Don't forget you're here for ever." It simply says ...
"Do it for her."
OK, I admit it, I'm simply repeating an old episode of The Simpsons. But wow, what an ending!
Right up there with Shakespeare and Dickens imho.