OUTDOORS COLUMN: Fathers and Sons

August 29, 2007 08:58 am

— As I sit down to write this weeks article its pouring down rain outside and I already have a dose of cabin fever. But praise the Lord for it as we sure needed it. My place was gunpowder dry. Any way I’m getting a earlier start on writing this, thanks to the rain as normally I’d be out doing something by now. Earlier this week I was thinking about my boys and with opening day of dove season just around the corner and the small annual shoot I have here on my place that has evolved into a father and son event I thought I’d write about fathers and sons.
What got me to thinking about this was my son Jason who had a freak accident awhile back that messed up his ankle and his knee which he is scheduled for surgery in a couple of weeks and he has been out of work and on crutches for several weeks now. He is grown now and brought me a beautiful grand daughter but if you have youngins , you know we never stop worrying about them no matter how old they get. About a week ago I went and got him out to ride around some country roads as I knew he was getting cabin fever. When I took him home and watched him struggle up his back door steps, I was reminded of long ago when he was just six months old and he had to have a hernia operation. He was a tiny baby and I think he had to get to ten pounds before they would operate. Any way when that large nurse came and got him and he looked back at his Daddy with those little sparkling eyes, I cried like a baby wishing I could do it for him. This boy has been a life saver for me. He has been there for me during some trying times and always found a way to keep his Daddy busy shooting bows, hunting , fishing target shooting etc.
All three of my boys have some of me in them, I would have to say Jason has my heart, Jeremiah has my work ethic and followed my foot steps into the Marine Corps, Matthew has my philosophy and is even majoring in it at Ole Miss. I guess what I’m trying to say is that our children may grow up and leave the nest but they never leave our hearts. Jeremiah is two states away now but has brought me two grand boys I wouldn’t take a million dollars for and Matthew is in his final year at Ole Miss.
My twins have inherited my love for the great outdoors, Matthew has not got the patience for deer or turkey hunting but he loves to eat wild game and will fish and occasionally go small game hunting with us. I have never forced my likes on my boys and I want them to be their own man. I have found ways to bond with them on a individual basis.
As I think back on them growing up a flood of memories deepens my soul and I would not erase one of them. I’ve been there with them through heart aches, victories, surgeries, loss of loved ones and good and bad times, they are my life blood and I would not change anything about them. The book of Proverbs 22:6, says; “ Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” I’ve tried to live by that with my boys and I’m proud of the men they have become.
I look forward to even deeper bonds with my grand children. Never take the gift of a child for granted as it is a gift from God and the most important job you will ever have in this life time.