What's that one thing in life that you despise doing?
For me? It's fishing.
I loathe it for many reasons. It's dirty, it's boring, I didn't have a dad to teach me. The excuses are many.
My boys have been obsessed with it lately.
They have friends who know how to put a worm on a hook that are half their age. They have friends who know what a spinning reel is versus a spincast. They have friends who have dads, and now you think there's an issue with how I was brought up.
I'm good, thanks. Except for when I think I'M failing as a dad. Isn't fishing supposed to be right up there with taking kids to baseball games and throwing the ball around? Isn't that in the handbook?
So, Carter had a gift card to Dicks and Steph took him and Cooper there to buy rods. They came home with these weird contraptions..and so I did what everyone else does that is clueless as to what to do next.
I looked up YouTube videos.
And I got frustrated. The boys were hovering because they wanted to go to the lake, and I couldn't put the line on, I couldn't tie the knots, and I couldn't figure out how to cast it.
The boys looked confused, and I realized I failed them..and it felt terrible.
And so I stepped away, and thought about how to make this situation better, for them..and for me.
I called up my best friend Mike, who is not only my friend, but a substitute dad, as well. Teaching me stuff I was never privy too.
(There he goes with the dad stuff again)
He came over, and the 3 of us Anderson dudes figured out all the basics. We practiced in the backyard casting lines, the right bait to use, and putting worms on hooks (still the worst)
And the boys caught fish yesterday. They were so excited, and we must have thrown 15-20 of them back in the lake.
You are always going to come across questions you don't have the answers to. You can use excuses as a crutch and think it's OK, but it's not.
You will feel like a loser, you will feel that other people have it figured out, or that you missed out, but you have a choice.
People are counting on you, and you're counting on yourself, too. You can say you despise something, but is the real reason because you don't know how to do it or the steps to take to learn it?
Don't be a victim. Be a victor.
Now, to teach the kids the gloriousness that is Long John Silvers or that one remaining Arthur Treachers to satisfy their fish addiction.
All my best as you figure out life and the relationships in it.
XOXO Glenn