Long but important to me: March 30th and April 11. These two dates will be remembered for a long time. I write this not for sympathy or attention, so please dont send any my way, but instead I write this to tell you about two great People. On March 30th I got word my last Grandfather Lou passed away and that my grandmother Sue was in the hospital, Today I get word That my Grandmother passed away. Now rewind about 30 years and picture a 5 year old boy at a camp site with a bent over fishing pole holding up a 8 trout and a grandmother who was so proud to have just instilled a life changing addiction. My Grandmother and Grandfather were great people! My grandfather would start out a phrase with let me tell you something reminiscent of Fire Marshall Bill for all you Jim Carey fans out there but yet I knew when he said that, I needed to listen because I was gonna hear something that would help save me grief later in life. And looking back, that was very much the case. I got behind the wheel of a vehicle for the first time in my life with my Grandfather, and quite frankly it was a comical failure on my part but thats another story. My Grandmother was the type of person who no matter what was going on in life, she lived to see her family. She found Joy in every family member no matter what! And let me tell you, she had a huge family. Dont quote me on the numbers, but I believe my grandparents had 7 children, 21 grandchildren and the great grandchildren number is still growing! Think about those numbers, and let me add, they were a real presence in every one of those family members lives! Some one once told me, the bigger the family the less love their is to go around, My grandparents showed me that like most things that person said it was garbage. Family can have unlimited love! Now I cant speak for every ones memories of these two great people, but I can share a little bit about my life with them. When I was about 10, I was really going down a wrong path like many people do in life, sparing those details. I got started fishing. Me and my child hood friends got pretty heavy into it. Unfortunately it wasnt enough to straighten me out. I lived just North of Los Angeles as a kid and trouble was just available every where. One summer in my mid teens, I was sent to live with my Grandparents in a small town called Merlin in southern Oregon. My Grandparents introduced me to the Rogue River, Applegate Lake, Lake Selmac, Ten Mile Lake, Galesville reservoir and most importantly for all who know me, the Umpqua River. We spent nights camping on islands we had to boat to and on river shores that I today take my kids swimming along. After that summer I met a girl, who today is my wife and the mother of my 3 beautiful kids, My grandparents excepted her as family from day one. Looking back, with Grandmas stamp of approval, every one should have known this girl was the one for me. I already knew it but I guess Grandma knew too. As brief a description as that may have been of events, I got to make a ton of fishing and camping memories with my Grandparents, mostly my grandmother. Through those times, I learned a lot of life lessons about contentment (still struggle there), persistence (got a great fish story on that one), Not to be a jack ass, and to some times just go the simple route among many other lessons. I can say today I am nowhere near a blinding success, but with the lessons I learned through my time with my Grandparents I may some day get there. I have a wonderful family and I run a business in my passion. I find the addiction to others fish stories I inherited from my grandparents and smile thinking of all the fish stories we have created together. Now what does all of this have to do with all of you? There is a short list of people who have influenced my life and for the purpose of this post my lure business. There is a huge list of people who have found joy and success in fishing the products this business has created over the years from production to custom one at a times. Recently two very special people left the Fish Bowl we all share together and with out them that joy, and excitement would have never happened. As cliche as it may sound...... and we have all heard this before but this time let it sink in....... Take a kid fishing, it WILL change their life! Rob Brown
Posted on: Sat, 12 Apr 2014 03:33:37 +0000
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