Grandpa Here !
Being a Grandpa is about as special a thing in life as it can get. Having the four grand kids that I have, (ya I know I'm biased) is absolutely awesome. There is just no other way to put it. From time to time one of them will especially touch my heart and when they do I am going to shout it to the roof top. This time its Zak that has center stage.
Zak is six years old now. When he was younger, on a couple of occasions I had the opportunity to introduce him to my passion of fishing. We would get a few hours together either on the dock or in my bass boat and for whatever length of time a little ones attention span would last I would cast the line out, hook a fish and then let him reel it in. I could tell from the start that he was a quick study and one day would become a pretty good fisherman.
In the above first two pictures Zak was about two and a half, and in the last picture Zak was about four.
Now to what touched my heart! Zak and his family live on a large sail boat. www.ghostsailors.com/. This is their home like the "tininthewind" motor home is Grandma and Grandpa's home. We have been told that Zak really likes spending time on the docks fishing, and exploring all kinds of sea life around.
The other day we stopped by to visit and planned to stay awhile as Angela, Zak's mom, was planning a special supper. Zak waited patiently while we adults caught up on the latest and when he got his turn he asked me if I wanted to go fishing. Hanging above our heads in the cabin below deck was a selection of rods and Zak suggested I should pick one and he would grab his so we could go up on the docks to fish. I reminded Zak that I did not have a license and it would be best if I just tagged along and watched him as he fished. What a great opportunity. I was going to get to see him at the ripe old age of six trying his hand at jigging for fish some thirty feet down to the bottom of the harbour sea floor from the dock.
As we made our way out on the docks Zak called to me to follow him as his hot spot was at the end of a dock a short distance from their boat. Walking along we were greeted by a neighbor who assured me that Zak was the resident expert and kept them all in fish. Zak proceeded to drop his bait to the bottom, (30 feet or so) and proceeded to jig the bait up and down in short jerks. All at once he called out, "there's one" and he began to reel with haste. Suddenly he announced that it wasn't a fish but rather a piece of sea weed. Sure enough when he got it to the surface he had a small piece of sea weed on the hook. Pretty good for a little guy to have that kind of sense of touch and I was recalling how over the years I could pretty well announce what kind of fish I had on my line simply by the way it acted long before I was to see it. I was impressed.
Time passed and Zak continued to do everything in his power to hook a fish as I know he wanted to show me how it was done. Fishing was slow but it allowed us to discuss other things while he continued to try.
I was sitting in a chair watching him from a short distance and we had been silent for awhile when he turned to me and looking at me sitting in the chair, said "Grandpa, I'll hook-em and you can reel em in, OK?".
