Yes it's almost here again, Father's day. With every passing year I'm always looking for the perfect gift to express to my father how much I love him. There is the usual gifts... a tie, some golf accesory ( usually one I'm not sure what it is but the girl behind the counter always tells me it's the next greatest thing) or old faithful, a hallmark card with really great words that don't express exactly the way I feel but it rhymes so that must mean something.
As I think over my life, the most memorable times I've spent with my father have been in a boat. Fishing somehow seemed to unite my father & I in way that nothing else seemed too.
I remember cool Wisconsin summer mornings, my brother & I being awakened before the sun had come up. As we arose, half asleep from our beds, it somehow felt like Christmas morning.
I couldn't wait to get on the water and see what the day might bring. My father was always telling us where he fished when he was a boy and the exact place to throw our lures or bobbers to catch the big one. My father endlessly rowed the boat while my brother & I fished. Thinking about it now, I'm sure Dad got tired but he never mentioned a word, he just kept rowing letting my brother & I fish.
This past summer my brother, my father and I had a chance to go fishing together again. We are all much older and thanks to modern technology he doesn't row anymore. My brother has seemed to take over the navigating duties on the trolling motor which I am grateful for because it allows my father and I to fish. We picked a pond we has never fished before and for the first time in a longtime we all seemed to be there, in that moment, enjoying each other in a simple but powerful way.
I think this year I'll give my father a
custom boat flag. Sure it's easier because I own a great flag company but what a great way to tell my father how much he means to me!
Happy Father's Day to all you Dad's that took the time to take your son's & daughter's fishing!
by:
The Flagman
