Legacy

Just this past Sunday night (August 25), Sherwood Oaks Church had a concert; it was the Annie Moses Band…a bluegrass/Christian group out of Nashville, Tennessee. The night was fantastic as a full crowd of about 1200 watched this awesome band; now I enjoyed the music but I enjoyed the story even more. The band consisted of a father/mother and six siblings…all of whom would not have been here playing music if it weren’t for a legacy that was handed down to them by their great-grandma…who was the real story. She had been a cotton sharecropper in Texas and worked herself to death to make sure that her children would have a better life and now four generations later the Annie Moses Band was rocking the SOCC auditorium!

As I sat there listening to the great music my mind started to wander to my legacy…if you know me then you know that I have no music abilities at all; however, there are so many things related to nature, fishing, hunting, etc…that have and always will be in my blood. I once again started thinking backwards through my own heritage from my dad (Ivan) to my grandpa (Carl) and rearward through the years. The common thread is that they were all outdoorsman; whether it was out of necessity or just from a pure joy of being out and enjoying nature.

I feel like so much of our foundation as a human is built upon those things that you did as a kid…the things that you learned and loved at the same time. From my very earliest memories I recall walking with my dad or grandpa, trying to stay up with them as they went from place to place on the farm that my grandparents owned. I am not sure how old I would have been but I can clearly remember jumping out of the upper barn door while grandpa was bringing in his herd of Jersey milk cows. The jumping was not the hard part…as I landed, my feet slipped and I fell backwards into a cow pie that was a couple feet across, very green and still steaming from the recent deposit! What happened next is still burnt into my memory; grandpa grabbed me by the back of the overall straps and led be about a hundred yards down to the creek. He then snatched me up by the seat of my pants as well as the straps and proceeded to ‘slosh’ me back and forth in the creek…effectively creating his own little washing machine. As I recall I didn’t miss a beat, we didn’t go back to the house and it wasn’t until much later that night when my semi-green underwear was discovered that the true happenings came out.

A few years later in my life I moved into my groundhog hunting era…I can still remember that bagging one of these varmints was the only thing I was focused on and with about 120 acres there were plenty of chances. Dad would work us all pretty hard…but there was some method to the madness because at the right time in the afternoon as things would begin to slow…I would eagerly await the nod and when I got it I would grab my .22 rifle and scamper off to parts un-known and for the next couple hours I would be in ‘hog heaven’ moving from hole to hole in hopes of catching a groundhog out going about his daily chores. These afternoon jaunts taught me many things from being able to quietly stalk and move about to being able to shoot accurately at pretty good distances…it was my own video game!

Dad and I would go fishing often as this was something that I could tell he really enjoyed…occasionally we would grab some fishing gear, an old pair of tennis shoes and drive to a creek where we would stumble in and out trying to land a smallie or other ‘creek’ fish. Odd how almost 40 years later I still think and dream of doing the exact same thing…and have now passed this legacy onto several other men as well as my own two sons, Harrison and Jonas. While I love listening to music I am so very thankful that my personal legacy, handed down to me through the many generations, is the love and appreciation of the outdoors and all that it encompasses.

Now as I look forward to the legacy that I will leave to future generations…I am eager to take grandkids (girls and boys) fly-fishing; to teach them how to cast, strip and set a hook…how to tie a fly from the basics that will fool an old trout or smallmouth bass. I long to share with them so that other generations will have the same legacy that has been passed on to me. If you, like me, are concerned with our future…then it is never too late, as we move into fall, there is no better time of the year to grab some camping gear and share a sunrise with some pancakes over an open fire. While you’re at it, bring along that fishing gear and give a kid the thrill of a bent fishing pole! When you do…you too will once again Enjoy the Great Outdoors.