Ninety-Two Year Old Fisherman

I saw something on Friday which I suppose is painfully simple and even stereotypical, yet no less impacting. I spent the day float-fishing on an Ozark stream. Along with our boats, a couple of older gentleman worked the stream in an old square-backed aluminum canoe. It was a pretty good day for those of us who were fishing. At one point on the float I watched the older of the two men pull about four or five goggle-eye out of a small hole alongside a bluff. Our group and their group ended our day on the river at about the same time, and pulled off the water at the same point. We all got a chance to visit a little bit then. Turns out the goggle-eye catcher is 92 years old. He had decided to take his 85 year old nephew out for a day fishing on the river!

And here I am sometimes feeling sorry for myself for showing signs of aging at 57. Granted, growing older can be no picnic. The challenges of the second half of life are real. Yet here's a guy who gets up on a July Friday morning and decides to take his 85 year old nephew fishing on the river with him. Sometimes the state of life comes at us beyond our control. Sometimes, though, we really do have some choices over how we will approach it.

And, who knows, we may find ourselves fishing with an octogenarian nephew some day. River floating and fishing at 92 - that's my dream, anyway! I'll see you around the next bend in the river.