The anticipatory anxiety felt regarding the first day of classes still, at age 56, and about to experience my 35th first day of school, both excites and overwhelms my senses….
"Are we ready? ... have we made sure all of the guys have the necessary paperwork completed? ... are we good with housing? ... how about physicals? ... when will the new guys be moving onto campus? ... do we have the first 15 days mapped out correctly?"
All of those feelings and questions were, for a moment, put on the back burner as our eldest child, Brian (Lefty @ 35) and grandson Camren (@5) and I entered the back 40 of Dr. Matthews’s farm, armed with our best fishing tackle, including bobbers and worms.
It should be noted that the bobbers & worms were for Papa (me) and Camren. Lefty, while he was more than gracious to get 3 poles set up for pond fishing … insisted only one would be used for worms.
Camren assured me there would be no problem baiting the hook with worms … he would get one out of the container, purchased at our country store, Kad-E-Korner, and papa would bait the hook.
Rumor had it that the huge farm pond, kept aerated by a newly installed wind vane, was hiding vast quantities of perch, bluegill, and large-mouth bass.
After a few attempts by Camren to cast the line….we finally had the baited hook and bobber in position to catch what Camren would describe as …”a Big Boy!”
Several worms were lost to the prey …. Camren assured me he had picked out the best fishing spot along the edge of the pond, and we would be landing a fish with our next bait and cast.
Out of the “mouths of babes”….Camren was correct, with Uncle Lefty’s help; Camren landed the first catch of the day…a small largemouth bass.
Who was going to “thumb” the bass and extract the hook? Camren reminded us he was in charge of securing the worm ot of the package, thumbing a fish was NOT on his agenda.
With much prodding by Uncle Lefty and Papa, Camren overcame his fear and stuck his little thumb in the bass mouth and took control of his catch (picture attached).
I hope Camren remembers that moment fondly. He chose to take a chance, to get out of his comfort zone, to trust Papa and Uncle Lefty (people that love him), that he should, and could, challenge himself and feel good about his decision to commit…to try….to stick his thumb in the mouth of a living fish….then release it back into the pond...to set it free.
Papa thinks Camren’s fear might have been set free as well.
We had a great mid-afternoon at the pond. Lefty and Camren went on to catch and release several varieties of pond fish. Sure enough the rumors were correct, perch, bluegill (with the sharp points on the back fin that Camren was not going to touch), and two …”Big Boy” largemouth bass, one 2.5 pounder caught by Camren (pic attached), and a 5+ pounder hauled in by Uncle Lefty.
Alas, all great fishing trips come to an end….back to the first day of classes and wondering:
…will Mike Bigonio be healthy enough to play? ... who will step up and replace graduated seniors RJ Knese, Joel Potts, Kyle Dyer, Courtney Spitz, Corey Peterson, Evan Jones, Dan Baner, Luke Noah, and Blake Wixson ?….
I might start with a little fishing trip to see who can “thumb “ a fish.
Go Panthers!
June 28
