"Agenius"

When I was in first grade, my Aunt Linda gave me a huge book of questions and answers for Christmas.  The book had great pictures and lots of facts that were supposed to be interesting to kids.

After Christmas, my dad started bringing the book upstairs with him for story time.  My big sister, little brother, and I would sit on my bed in our pajamas and try to guess the answers to the questions in the book.

It didn't take me long to figure out that I could know the answers if I read the book ahead of time.  So I started studying it every chance I got.  When my dad read the questions, I could whip out the answers while my brother and sister looked mystified.

I am sure my dad knew that I "studied" for these nightly quizzes, but he never let on.  Instead, he always made a huge deal about me getting the answers right.

"Whoa!," he would exclaim.  "How did you know that?"

And then he would say my favorite . . .

"Missy, you're a genius."

I wrote about those nights in my diary as a kid, making "agenius" one big word.

I may not have been a genius, but my dad made me feel like a million dollars

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