Happy Father’s Day to all the dads who read this
To the Expositor:
Father’s Day memories.
A chance encounter this weekend caused me to reflect on my childhood, my parents, aunts and uncles and other family and friends who took a genuine interest in my upbringing.
As a somewhat hyperactive little boy with a passion for fishing I dragged them to most streams, rivers, creeks bridges, culverts and docks in Grey and Bruce Counties. The quality time we spent, the knowledge I gained and the respect for our environment left me with the strong values I have today.
Saturday morning, sometime around 10:30 am I guess, I decided to wander down to a fishing hole that was close to our camp. Saturday was definitely going to be one of the days when “things can wait until tomorrow.”
As I got out of my truck I recognized the silver Dodge Ram already parked as that of a friend of mine Michael. I could see Michael and his three-year-old son Aaron were already engaged in the father and son art of fishing.
Michael works three hours away and is gone all week. He had got home probably 12 hours earlier and here he was with his son. I was impressed.
This art normally consists of, or at least my childhood days, of wet running shoes, muddy pants, the occasional cut and scrape, lost lures and line and always included the phrase “your mother is going to be real impressed with us!”
The art has changed since then.
Aaron had the butt of his fishing rod securely placed and was sitting patiently watching his bobber with the secret bait suspended five feet below. Michael, although he had another fishing rod, was standing behind his son quietly communicating with him about the virtues of patience and the rewards that could be gained.
Every now and then Aaron would reel his boober and secret bait in just to assure himself that the bait was still there and then Dad would cast it back into the clear waters.
I watched, reflecting of my youth and all of the positive memories I had of exactly days like this—father and son quality time.
They were great times.
As Michael and I talked Aaron chose to interrupt us to tell us he had a fish on. Aaron was seated, fishing rod butts firmly secured and he was reeling slow and steady.
This is the part where I’ve seen fathers come unglued, get over excited, raise their voices and attempt to take the rod away from the child so they “don’t lose the fish”
Nope, no such thing was going to occur with Michael and Aaron. These two were sharing the experience together. Michael calmly coaching his son, with Aaron continuing to reel.
And then we saw the reward as a 30-inch silver flash broke the surface, did a short dance and returned to the cold clear water. It was a rainbow trout.
I was confused. Isn’t this the part where adults start hyper ventilating and their voices get loud?
Once again, Nope. Calm persistence prevailed. The team of Michael and Aaron had everything under control.
Well sort of, as they were missing one small item, the fishing net.
As luck would have it a kind gentleman supplied the necessary piece of tackle as it was going to be critical to a successful conclusion.
After 10 minutes the rainbow was netted and the battle won.
After the mandatory picture session Michael asked Aaron if he wanted to fish longer. His reply was perfect, ‘No, Dad, one is enough.’
As they drove away I thought how proud Michael’s dad and Aaron’s grandfather John would have been. John was a great teacher of patience and respect and these values were very evident in his son Michael (and the whole family for that matter).
Congratulations, Michael. You made my weekend. Happy Father’s Day to you and all the Dads who read this.
Randy Walker
Chesley
