Hunting with Mike

This is a picture of one of our first bear hunts over 30 years ago. Thats me on the left when I weighed a respectable 170 pounds. Brother Darryl in the middle and my dad is on the right. As you can see long hair and sideburns were in style back then, and evidentially it was very warm that year. This year (2008) marks 30 years of hunts without the “Patriarch” of our family leading, guiding, praising, and cajoling his six sons. It almost seems the older we get the more we miss his influence on our lives!

My dad used to have a orange hunting cap that he wore during most of our hunts, and after he died it became a much sought after keepsake. In the previous blog I am wearing that hat during one of our deer hunts. It may seem strange, but that hat smelled like my dad for many years after he departed for Gloryland. No one wore it for years, as it almost seemed sacrilegious to do so! Since I was in possession of “dad’s hat” at the time, and hadn’t shot a deer in several years, I decided wearing it would bring me good luck. At this point in my life I don’t believe in “luck” anymore, as it leaves everything in life to “chance”kind of like a crap shoot. I’ve come to understand that a righteous man’s steps are ordered by the Lord, and nothing happens, in my life that catches God off guard or unawares. That being said; wearing the hat didn’t put a deer on the game pole that year, but it did give me a sense of unbelievable closeness to my dad, as I sat quietly in my little piece of paradise under an old oak tree. Wearing that hat has evoked so many memories and “conversations” with my dad, that I just couldn’t keep it to myself.

Come deer season you never know which brother will be wearing “papa bears” old orange hat. We’ve come to realize there is no “magic” in that hat, like there was in Frosty the Snowman’s, but there is something very very special about that old K-Mart hat. Whoever wears it is not guaranteed a big buck, or even a deer for that matter, but the chances of a “visitation” from the ‘best dad in the world, are assured! My dad, the memories, the hat-they are priceless. Cherish those around you that make your life unique and complete, and who love you unconditionally.

Mike

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 2:53 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.