Secret Chamber - and secrets it hides

My dad has this secret chamber in his almira/closet. He hides his passport and other important documents there. My mother doesn't have access to it. I didn't even know about this until two weeks ago, when he needed me to open it to look for a document. He's become frail and couldn't remove the panel by himself. When i was looking for this document, a blue piece of printed paper fell out of the chamber. I didn't notice it, and kept looking. When I couldn't find the document, I was putting everything back to how they were and picked up the sheet from the floor. The sheet was actually a boy scout certificate of achievement. I initially thought it belonged to my brother, since he's been involved with Boy Scout for a long time. Then i looked at the name, and it had my name on it. I asked my dad if he wanted to throw it away. He just said to put it back. So I did.

After coming back to my room, it struck me that this piece of paper probably is the first certificate of achievement, although I have no memory of ever receiving it. It doesn't mean anything to me, but obviously it's important to my dad.

In my mind, I think I've come a long way, and gathered enough experiences, and I'm proud of my accomplishments. I'm also painfully aware that my parents achieved far more in their days than any of their children, they reminded us enough times when we were growing up. When I got full scholarship at Bard, they pointed out that my mom's colleague's son got a scholarship at Harvard. They recommended that I don't accept the position at the TV station and look for a job at the bank where my cousin works. In fact, I had a complex about it for a long time until I accepted that my priorities in life are different than theirs, and chose to be happy. Thankfully, I am.

That Joy Luck Club duh! moment actually reminded me that without owning any certificate of anything, I have achieved a place at my dad's secret chamber. Now that's an achievement in a class all by itself.