Thanks Mom!

    Thanks Mom! Thanks for my first fishin’ pole.
Thanks for letting Dad and Grandpa take me to the pond and put me in the boat when I was barely big enough to hold the fishin’ pole.
Thanks for reading the animal and dinosaur books to me before I could read.
Thanks for letting me bring the multitudes of lizards, frogs and bugs into the house to show you how pretty they were.
Thanks for letting me hang out with Poppy and Uncle Ted when you knew good and well they were showing me how to catch snakes.
Thanks for letting me hang out with Poppy and Uncle Ted all summer long in spite of the snakes we caught.
Thanks for my Daisy Red Ryder BB gun when I was seven. BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER!!!
Thanks for understanding the inquisitive nature of a little boy when he shot a bird just so he could get a good look at it, and then telling him you understood when he cried a little because he felt bad about killing something. And thanks for not embarrassing him by telling anybody about it. We won’t mention the name of that little boy; it can still be our secret.
Thanks for letting me walk to the pond whenever I wanted as long as homework and chores were done.
Thanks for the aquarium.
Thanks for letting Dad take me out of school to go deer hunting with him.
Thanks for sitting in the cold deer woods with me when Dad wanted to go to some rough country I wasn’t big enough to hike through.
Thanks for letting me have my huntin’ dogs, Ziggy and Rascal.
Thanks for letting me go out in the woods on my own.
Thanks for you and Dad taking us fishing on the river, sleeping on the sandbar, building a fire, and getting up to make breakfast at sunrise. I won’t mention the time you forgot the paper plates and forks so we had to eat our scrambled eggs out of cups.
Thanks for letting me keep and grow the mountain of outdoor magazines that: A) Cluttered my room. B) Interfered with my school work. C) Only made me want to hunt and fish MORE!
Thanks for letting me ride my bike to the lake.
Thanks for getting up at daylight to make a breakfast when I woke up early to ride my bike to the lake.
Thanks for letting me keep the chipmunk and the flying squirrel in my room.
Thanks for letting me join the bass club when I was 15.
Thanks for helping me buy my first bow.
Thanks for letting me spend all the money I made at my summer jobs on fishin’ and huntin’ stuff without saying a word…well, without sayin’ much.
Thanks for understanding how your now grown, middle aged son still treasures everything outdoors and thanks for allowing me to collect all these memories from a great childhood.
Love you Mom!