For the past six months I’ve felt like
I’ve been on a carousel ride where the operator quit his job and forgot to hit
the “off” switch on his way out the door. Recently, about the time of the
summer solstice, I was grousing to Susan that I can’t recall another time in
the past 50 years when I’ve gotten this deep into the fishing season and not
yet purchased my license.
She did not rise to the bait. Her response
was, “Oh, by the way, Lily is coming to visit all next week. Better think of
some things to do.”
Lily is our six-year-old granddaughter and
things-to-do for her are not always the same as things-to-do for me. So, I put
together a list of local parks, hours for the library, gardens, cartoon
channels on TV, museums and swimming spots—things that kids could/would/should
like to do.
This morning, the first day, while trying
to drink my morning coffee and read none of the news that’s fit to print, all
while stepping over the enormous pile of stuff a six-year-old can haul into the
living room, I asked the fatal question: What should we do today, Lily?
Her response: Can we go fishing?
"That was easy!"
Whoa! It don’t get much better than that.
At least that’s what I thought until a few hours later—after she landed 25 or
30 bluegills. She asked , “Can I put the worm on the hook?”
Oh my, I think I need some oxygen over
here …
The fish that has saved many a grandpa
2 comments:
This suggestion offends even the "non-treehugging" part of me but my parents did it with my kids. Take along some washing machine proof colorful paint, a brush and a tee-shirt. Have your granddaughter paint the side of her fish (preferably one that has swallowed the hook) and press the colors onto the shirt. If she can, have her sign the masterpiece for (grand)po-sterity.
Beautiful....thanks for sharing. Su
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