It's hard to be an astronaut's son. Everybody expects you to be 1. I'm just a normal eleven-year-old kid. My father is so good at everything. I often wonder 2 my father ever had a son like me.
One morning, my teacher announced a 3 Day essay(散文) competition for the whole school. What would I 4? My father is an astronaut. I would start out like that. No, I decided I wouldn't do that. The whole country and maybe even the whole 5 saw my father as an astronaut, 6 that wasn't the way I saw him.
How did I 7 my father? Hmm. .
I saw him sitting with me in the dark when I was little and had a nightmare.
I saw him teaching me how to throw a baseball.
I remembered him hugging me for hours when my dog was killed by a car.
And I remembered how he 8 me with a new little dog at my eighth birthday party.
These were the things I was going to write about my dad. To me, he wasn't 9 a world-famous astronaut, he was my dad.
On Thursday night, the winning essays would be 10 in the hall with all the parents and students present. When the third prize was announced and it wasn't me, I was relieved and 11 at the same time. Then the second prize. It was me! I went up to the stage and read my essay "My Father's Son". I watched my parents as I read.
When I finished reading, the audience(观众) applauded(鼓掌). I saw my father blowing his nose. Tears were running down my mother's 12. Dad 13 his throat, and put his hand on my shoulder, "Son, this is the proudest moment of my life. "
It was the proudest moment of my life , too. Maybe I'll 14 be a great hero or win a Nobel Prize, but just then, it was 15 just to be my father's son.
