This board made me think...

I to lost my father 2 years ago feb 19th to a drunk driver. I can tell you when something like this happens it is a real hard pill to swallow. I thank my dad for giving me the love for the outdoors. There is not a day that goes by I dont think about him. Something that helped me through it was every time I would start to think about him and get that lump in my throught, I would think of the good times that we did have together. The last fishing trip I went on with him was a shinner fishing trip in Florida. I still carry a pic that my sister took on the boat that day while running down the lake. What great memories we have.

incredible post. its got me thinkin....thats for sure. alot of things shared by you guys hits close to home.

btw, i sure like reading these posts more than the bickering about ike...j/k.

Dad and I will be going to Ky lake first week in April, first "real" out trip we've been on together. He really wants to go to Lake Fork but can't handle the drive and won't fly. I went to Canada back in 06 and tried my best to get him to go, but with 2 fake knee's 1 fake hip, both rotator cuffs repaired and 3 back surgurys, all in the last 10 years, he can't do that kind of thing. He's a retired mechanic, both dozers and semi's, he told me when I was a kid if I ever picked up a wrench to be a mechanic, he'd make me eat it! Glad I listened to him!

By the way, He noticed a few gray hairs on me the other day, he hasn't let up yet!

[quote=dc chopper;357216]Dad and I will be going to Ky lake first week in April, first "real" out trip we've been on together. He really wants to go to Lake Fork but can't handle the drive and won't fly. I went to Canada back in 06 and tried my best to get him to go, but with 2 fake knee's 1 fake hip, both rotator cuffs repaired and 3 back surgurys, all in the last 10 years, he can't do that kind of thing. He's a retired mechanic, both dozers and semi's, he told me when I was a kid if I ever picked up a wrench to be a mechanic, he'd make me eat it! Glad I listened to him![/quote]


DC,

I am heading to Lake Fork in a couple weeks, then again later this year 2 more times, if you and your dad would like to go with me (I will even drive it, lets go. I would love to help him fulfill that desire and I have a HUGE vehicle that he could even "laydown" in if he needed to. I am going to pick-up my boat on this first trip, so we could just take an extra day and hit the water with it (bust its cherry :). Would be my pleasure, plus company on that drive would be AWSOME. Let me know if you have any interest. The later trips this year will be in Jun and Nov, for the Skeeters Owners Tourney and the Fishing For Freedom Events.

On a personal note here, don't forget your grandparents if they are still around. I am only 38 and I have already lost both "natural" parents (the last a couple months ago to cancer), and this post has made me think of how little I call her since we are so far removed from each other by distance. It would take very little effort to pick-up the phone and call more often, and I should do that more, if fact I WILL do that more after reading this and realizing that time is not infinite to even those we think it is. She is 88 and been a HUGE part of my life and often gone outta her way to "be there for me" when no one else was. I owe her a debt I can never repay (emotionally speaking) and I need to make a better effort in this reguard for sure.
Thanks for the post DC, it really hits home with me, and MANY others obviously by the responses I have read here. Take care and PLEASE let me know about Lake Fork, and if you all can't do it when I am planning to go, give me another time and I WILL make it work for us to go. Take care and God Bless Brothers!!!

Rob Appleby
502-689-5528

I recently lost part of my soul, it died with my Mother. We had a great relationship, I miss her dearly.

Take care of those, who took care of you, this world is a different place without them.

Great post! My dad lives in California and I only see him once or twice a year. We talk on the phone every week or so. He is 66 yrs old and completed chemo treatments back in August 2008. I sure do tell him I love him more often now. He's recovering well and feeling great. He's an avid golfer and shot 78 the other day!!!

He would be the first to tell you that cancer $uck$! I love me dad. I hope he's around for years to come!

Take care of those, who took care of you, this world is a different place without them.[/QUOTE]

Well said...words to live by indeed.

[QUOTE=cra97;357326]DC,

I am heading to Lake Fork in a couple weeks, then again later this year 2 more times, if you and your dad would like to go with me (I will even drive it, lets go. I would love to help him fulfill that desire and I have a HUGE vehicle that he could even "laydown" in if he needed to. I am going to pick-up my boat on this first trip, so we could just take an extra day and hit the water with it (bust its cherry :). Would be my pleasure, plus company on that drive would be AWSOME. Let me know if you have any interest. The later trips this year will be in Jun and Nov, for the Skeeters Owners Tourney and the Fishing For Freedom Events.[/QUOTE]

Rob, I appreciate the kind offer. It means alot to me. Dad couldn't take the ride or drive, just going to Williamsburg to visit the cemetary where my grandparents are buried is a burden he accepts a couple of times a year. I'd love to go but it wouldn't feel right without him there for me to rag on, maybe in another year or two I could do it, but the offer was very kind indeed. I have lost both sets of grandparents also. My mom's dad was the greatest person on earth. His funeral line was over 3 miles long and they opened the church windows and pulled trucks against the church so people could sit in the back and hear the service. Everyone that ever met him said the same thing " best man they ever knew" and no one could ever recall EVER hearing him say a bad word about another person.. ever. He lost 3 children 18 years old ( coal mine explosion,) 13 year old ( killed by a drunk driver getting out of a car coming home from church) and a 6 year old (polio) I asked him a few years before he died how he kept his sanity during those episodes. His reply was something that I have never forgotten " I figured God thought that I could handle it better than someone else and he knows best so I accept it." When the drunk driver was turned loose, he wasn't mad, he told me that he felt sorry for him because he had a family too. I don't know where they make men like that nowadays but wherever he came from, they made them wide and deep, all man! I envy his attitude about life, God and family.

DC Chopper - That was some good reading about your grandpa, thanks for sharing.

i really do appreciate my dad....... we are actually goin to santee in the middle of march for 5 days and i cant wait.... my dad and mom do so much for me and mean so much.... when i went to texas to fish for the college bass my dad said u can take my truck and boat out there.... both my parents have been good to me and helped me out along the way.... mom raised me mostly from middle school till college... when they got divorced..... mom would take me out to the deer woods before day light and we didnt have cells then so i would telll her when to meet me and she would come pick me up... cause i love to bow hunt and thats why she would do that.... i cant wait to go to santee its been a while since me and dad have been away fishin just me and him.... it used to be take the ex step mom and that was aweful casue she had a whole other agenda..... but me and jimmy oliver talked about our dads one day and he was showing me pics from when they went catfishin and how much fun they had and then jimmy was telling me how luck i was to have a dad that does what he does for me and how i should take him fishin and stuff.... to be honest when i go fnf fishin with dad these last 4 or 5 times i have tried every way in the world for him to get a fish above 5lbs and it stinks that i cant... anyone can ask my dad this he says when i have kids i am in trouble after all he has done for me if i tell them no they are goin to call him...lol... I just hope now that my mom and dad can sleep good at night knowing they raised a good kid..... and i can tell u living the lifestyle in the outdoors hunting and fishing keeps kids away from drugs and drinking casue they know on sat morn they have to be up at sunrise out on the lake or in the woods.... and they dont wanna be late...