Dear Mom, Dear Dad: A Son’s Thank You is a poignant, autobiographical, epistolary-style book filled with affiliative humor that, through a series of childhood and coming-of-age narratives, underscores how my parents’ attributes of humor, humility, service, and imagination deeply influenced my adult roles. 

The sentiments that bombard our lives are mostly ornamental. Memes on social media and front porch signage are well-intended, but projecting a value and living it are two separate things. Sharing these letters may be a gesture of generativity that is not unnatural for somebody my age. I celebrate my parents’ contrasting ideas about learning and education. It prepared me to see parenting and teaching through a wider lens and pushed me to the conclusion that education—in all its forms—is the interstate to independence, the antidote for apathy, and the safeguard against suppression.

Darryl Johnson’s poetry and essays have appeared in regional and national journals. A recipient of the Missouri National Education Association’s Horace Mann Award, Darryl is a former Missouri Teacher of the Year and member of the National Teachers Hall of Fame. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in English Education from Northwest Missouri State University. He resides in Smithville, Missouri with his wife Renee.