Full circle .......

[mommucked]

I vividly remember the trips our family took to Kerr lake in the 70s when I was a kid. We camped @ County Line for a week or more every summer. I remember catching stripers so big I could barely hold them up. I remember dad taking my brother and I, probably 6 /8 yrs old, on our first bass fishing trips in his 16' trihull before the crack of dawn and his scolding/shushing us for talking too loud or making noise knocking about the boat while we fished. He also took us fishing farm ponds in a 10' jon boat and we caught some big bass. I remember one I hooked that spun and dragged the boat across the pond while dad tried to use the paddle to stop it. It went to and hung up in the top of a big pine tree that had fell in the water and pulled the hook on the rapala . It had to be 12 lbs or more, I had caught a few 8/9 lb. bass and they did not pull like that fish..........

Now dad is 79. I took him fishing on my boat thurs. for the first time THIS year. We were on the lake @ 530 am. I stopped the boat 70 yrds from the bank and dropped the trolling motor to sneak to the shore. Dad climbed into the front seat and loudly said " GET CLOSER TO THE BANK!!" and I shushed him. 10 mins later he cussed loudly after casting his topwater bait into the reeds and I asked him if he had his hearing aids on. He said "NO I FORGOT THEM". I told him he was talking too loud and to talk softer .......... then I had memories of him shushing my brother and I again and again in the quiet, predawn darkness as we learned to fish and I almost cried. I walked to the front of the boat, hugged him and told him "we've come full circle, remember Kerr Lake and all the farm ponds we fished in the jon boat, and you telling us to "stfu you'll spook the fish"? and now I'm telling YOU to be quiet?".

 

[ord.sgt.26NC]

My full circle moment came when my dad was sick and in the hospital.He needed to drop the kids off at the pool and I helped him into the bathroom.While he sat there,I told him the same thing.Then he reminded me that one of these days,a daughter will be changing my diaper. Love ya dad! Miss ya too buddy.

 

[tlucier]

Mine came a couple of weeks ago when I moved my folks into a retirement apartment. My dad helped me move into my first apartment. So after all of the furniture was moved I helped them set things up - hang curtain rods, hang pictures, run the wires for their cable modem & wireless router, etc. Now growing up my dad was a stickler for doing things right. If you’re gonna do something, do it the right way. It started out with the curtain rods. The way my mom wanted then hung I had to mount the hanger brackets into a wooden frame around the window. I told my dad to give me a minute and let me get my cordless drill and drill bits out of my truck. He asked why and I told him I wanted to predrill the hole so I didn’t split the wood. Just put it in he said, if it splits it splits. I told him he didn’t raise me that way.

Then came the pictures. He told me to put a nail in the drywall and hang them. I told him no, I was going to put a wall anchor in the wall and use a proper hanger. He said they weren’t supposed to put holes in the wall and I asked him what’s the difference between a nail hole and a hole for a wall anchor, and I reminded him that he taught me how to patch drywall.

Then came the cable wiring. I was routing it nice and neat and out of the way. Then I tied up the cables to keep them organized. Just let them be he said. It’s not necessary to do all of that. I told him, look - you raised me this way. If you you’re gonna do something, do it right. If you don’t like it you’ve got no one to blame but yourself. He got a big smile on his face and gave me a big hug.