My father passed away a year and a half ago but I'll share one of my favorite stories that makes me laugh still today.

I was about 12/13. We had a cottage on a lake and my dad was going fishing and I asked if I could go with him.
We had worms for bait and I didn't want to touch them so I asked my dad if he'd bait the hook. He did.

It was quiet for a while and my dad caught a couple fish. Finally, I had one on the line. I pulled the line toward me and tried to grab the fish. Each time when I touched it, I went "eww" "eww" and pulled my hand away from the slimy fish. Each time I tried to pull the line toward me I squirmed from touching a live fish. With the fish, still hanging on the line, it slapped my dad on one side of the face and then the other side as I was trying to reel it in.

This went on for what seemed like a long time. I was getting nervous cause I didn't want to make dad mad, yet deep down I was kind of cracking up when I saw that fish hit his face over and over. (You never want to laugh at your father when he's getting angry right?)

Finally frustrated, he said "damn-it Ann, you don't wanna bait your hook, you don't wanna touch the fish, why do you wanna go fishing?" He took the fish off the hook for me and within a few minutes I could see the smirk on his face and he started teasing me. Boy, when we got back he told my family and they all laughed.

That "Dad" story is among favorites. My dad & I would many times reflect back on our fishing trip. I even tell my grandkids and they laugh. Wonderful memory!


TIS