My dad loved to fish. Every summer he drove to northern Ontario for at least a week, sometimes two weeks, so he could fish. He woke each morning and headed out in the boat, he returned for lunch, then went back out on the lake to fish, one more trip back to the cabin for dinner, then back out for a few more hours of fishing. To my dad this was a dream vacation.

As a child many of my “Dad” memories are from fishing trips he and I would take. Whether it was hiking through the woods to find the perfect spot on the river, or sitting in the middle of a lake during a down-pour or the time I accidentally dropped my fishing rod into the lake and dad laughed so hard I thought he would fall out of the boat….all of the memories are fond.

Recently I was walking at a local park. I saw this bobber hanging from a tree and immediately I thought of my dad. One of our “inside jokes” as a family was about my dad losing his fishing lures in the trees. My dad had a short temper and became easily frustrated. But this was one of the things that even he laughed at. “He caught another tree.” His favorite lure had the silver spinner and purple “hair” and I suspect many trees in Northern Ontario remain decorated with this lure.

My dad died many years ago….if heaven is what we love best….I imagine my dad sitting in a boat, on a clear blue lake, surrounded by tall green trees that shimmer with fishing lures! This would be the perfect place for my dad to spend his eternity!
Happy Father’s Day Dad!