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As many of you know, my father passed away in March. It’s been a difficult month…I am mentally and physically exhausted. I’ve been to Florida twice over the past month and spent a great deal of time helping my mom and brother adapt to life without my dad around. Needless to say, I need a vacation!

A little over a week ago, we took a small family vacation to Lake Ray Roberts and did some camping. While this was not a full-blown vacation, it did help bring a bit of sanity back to my life. It also afforded me an opportunity to reflect on my dad’s passing. While camping, we decided to take Mia fishing. Mia has been fishing before, but  she was just a little over 2-years-old at the time and she was more fascinated by the worms than the prospect of actually casting her line and catching a fish. This was her first fishing trip where she was actually interesting in catching a fish. Fortunately, Lake Ray Roberts, like many state parks in Texas, has a Kids’ Fishing Pond that is stocked with eager and hungry fish just waiting for an opportunity to bite a hook.

Armed with our fishing poles and a can of worms, we headed out to the old fishing hole (cue the theme song from the Andy Griffith Show). I set up Mia’s pole and gave her the option of putting the worm on the hook herself. She passed on the offer and decided to let me do this part for her (as a side note: this is the same child who no more than 3 years ago loved digging for worms in our backyard in Pilot Point and occasionally snacking on them when Mommy was not looking).  After a few worms, Mia landed her first fish and reeled it in all by herself. As you can tell from the picture she was very proud and excited. In a little under 2 hours, Mia managed to catch 3 catfish and 2 bluegills. It was a good day.

Later that night before falling asleep in the tent, I thought about Mia’s first fish and it got me to thinking about all the times my dad and I had gone fishing. When I was a kid, we would go fishing all the time and it is something I loved doing with my dad. Legend tells it that after I caught my first fish I refused to part with it for several days and I even kept it under my pillow at night.  We often fished for catfish and my dad taught me all the ins-and-outs of fishing for the whiskered beasts. Sometimes we would get to the lake or pond before sunrise and stay until after dark. I remember catching over a 100lbs of catfish on one trip. On another occasion, we visited a fishing hole in Georgia and we cleaned the fish  in our hotel room’s bathroom. Now that’s dedication (or lunacy?). Those were great times and I’m glad my trip with Mia helped me remember those special fishing trips with my dad. My father and I had a rocky relationship at times over the years,  but fishing was something we enjoyed doing together and I’m glad that I am getting to share those positive experiences and memories of my dad with Mia.