I don’t know just how many more fishing trips dad has left in him.
But this Springtime’s trip was particularly one of the best I’ve ever gotten to experience with that charming man.
His health has been such that he wasn’t able to get up to the lake for the last couple of years. But simply due to his amazing resilience, he’s doing much better and is living every moment to its fullest. I cherish that about him. He’s never been one to simply just sit in the air conditioning at home. Dad particularly helped his dad build the lodge up at the lake. It’s sort of been passed down to me now as I hold the keys. Dad didn’t even make a giant deal out of that passing of the torch. But his look said everything really. The lodge is rustic and that’s constantly been fine. I’m not up there to watch cable or anything like that. Yet, since dad wasn’t up to going to the lodge the last couple of years, I’ve been doing some renovating. Between me and my buddies, we have painted, refurbished and added some residential heating, ventilation, and A/C to the lodge. One of my buddies is an actual heating, ventilation, and A/C professional. We got another pair of ductless heat pumps and spent a long weekend fishing, drinking budweiser and installing the ductless heat pumps. It particularly has made a difference. When dad walked in the lodge, his eyes just lit up. He was so into all the improvements that I had made. He also particularly thanked me for not waiting until he was dead before putting in some quality heating and air in the lodge. We had yet another quality fishing trip together and this one was extra special for a lot of reasons.