この15年の間、父にはたくさん叱られ、ケンカをすることもありました。仕事で遅く帰ってくる姿を見て、遠慮する気持ちも芽生えました。そんななか意を決して、この高校で学ぶために塾に通わせて欲しい、と頼みました。父は「わかった」と言って安くはない塾代を出してくれました。
思えば、今まで父から「勉強しなさい」と言われたこともなければ、学びたいという意欲を抑えられたこともありません。そんな父に感謝の気持ちを込め、私が20歳になる年に、恥ずかしくて「誕生日プレゼント」という名目にして父の誕生日にハンカチーフを贈りました。使っているところを見たときには嬉しい気持ちになりました。

My family consists of just my father and me. During these last 15 years, I got yelled at by him a lot and we had a lot of fights. But seeing him come home from work late made me want to cut him some slack. That's why I asked him to let me go to a cram school so I could prepare to get in my high school. My father said "Ok." and paid for tuition, which wasn't cheap.
Now that I think of it my father has never told me to study but he also never discouraged me from learning. When I turned 20 I wanted to give him a handkerchief as a token of my gratitude, but because I felt a little embarrassed, I told him it was a present for his birthday. I was very happy when I saw him use it.