Smile for the Joy of Others

Smile for the Joy of Others

Monday, October 6, 2014

Catch of the Day



Last week, we enjoyed a family vacation to the Gulf Coast.  As part of fun, we spent several days fishing.  One particular day this happened:

We were fishing off the Alabama Gulf State pier. Sharks were swarming thus causing many distractions but an abundance of catching many "pilot" fish. As fishermen were fighting the sharks we were temporarily distracted from one of our rod n reels. BB thought JB was holding it, JB thought BB was holding resulting in no one holding it and the rod n reel tumbling to its demise to the bottom of the ocean. It was quite devastating with tears. This rod n reel was a gift from his Pappaw and just the mere shock of it falling so suddenly and unpredictably was just an emotional experience for Brooks.

 Fast Forward to the next day. We are fishing the same spot with BB having a new rod n reel we bought yesterday to replace the lost one. Sharks aren't as numerous but still circling. CB decides to merely drop his line instead of casting it hoping to avoid hooking a shark. What he hooked was even better and required more skill to reel in. He "hooked" our lost rod n reel from the day before. It took JB about 30 minutes using MacGyver type skills but he finally got to the pier. Our story and efforts invited a small crowd of onlookers cheering him on. Even the local news took a few pics (they were doing a story about the over abundance of sharks this year). The success of JB's efforts brought about cheers and claps from the small gathered crowd.

The little boy in the picture above held back tears of joy but not the smiles and hugs for his daddy. It's times and efforts like this that makes our Daddy an even bigger hero.