Another Chapter has closed...

As you know we had to go down to the trailer at the lake this weekend. It was awful, but we made it through together. I am so thankful that we all got to be there together. I think this is the hardest thing we have had to do. We ended up not spreading the ashes. There was just too much to do that weekend and we were all tired. Plus, Beau is the one that would have had to do most of the work. We are all going to meet sometime this summer.

It was very interesting being at the trailer. I think we all had a bad dream about it before we got there. At first it felt like we were letting Dad down by getting rid of all of this. Then I realized that it was never about the trailer or even the boat; it was about the lessons we learned there. We learned how to be a family, we learned to make sacrifices and that it is about give-and-take, we learned not to go crazy when locked in a 35x8 foot space when it was raining, and most importantly...we learned how to be parents. We learned that you have to work hard in order to play hard, team work gets the job done faster, and we all have strengths and weaknesses. We learned that it is not about the money you spend or the places you go; it is about the memories you make and what you do with your time together. None of us would trade those memories for the world. We had the greatest times being together, and I know we still will. So, I thank my parents for those lessons they taught us down there.

There is a song that we all love (on our Fishing CD) that says, "Pass it on. I will never fish alone, I learned that growing up with my Dad..." That is what it is really all about. As I stood on the last day and watched my wonderful brother-in-law, Beau, back the truck up to my Dad's boat I looked down to see my little blonde-headed niece and nephew with their hand in the air guiding him back. That is exactly what my sisters and I used to do for my Dad. And there it was....We had passed it on. Those lessons are already at work in our lives with our families. I think Dad would have said, "That is what I was trying to teach you, Pass it on..."