Fish Stories

With most folks gone from offices and the other end of emails, and no pressing deadlines of my own, I got a little restless at the keyboard yesterday. Plus, it was dark outside, and I felt like the trout would bite. It didn't take too much pondering of such things before I decided to grab Asher, gather a bit of junk and head for a creek.

The trout indeed cooperated and we caught them pretty well for a fairly short afternoon outing, but that might be a different blog.

What strikes me on this Thanksgiving morning is how grateful I am that I can turn off the computer and head for the creek in the middle of the day and legitimately still be doing my job. We got photos and content that I will use in stories.

I was probably Asher's age or a bit younger when started thinking about the fact that someone had to write those articles in the fishing magazines and decided I wanted to do that when I grew up. The idea that God allows me to earn a living by "writing fish stories" astounds me and makes me very thankful.

It's not just about fishing either -- although I certainly am thankful to get to fish in so many places and call it work. I'm also thankful to be able to work from home with flexible hours, to share my work and at times my travel with my family and to be creative in my work through writing and photography.

My work is ever changing, and over the past couple of decades my major workload has shifted from the magazine features I originally envisioned, to shorter magazine work, to internet stories, to social media post and other content projects. It's still writing fish stories, though, and for that I give thanks this morning.

Fish Stories

"writes fish stories"

That's my unofficial job description, and while I don't suppose it's quite complete it's a decent summary of how I get to earn my living. I'm thinking about that on this Thanksgiving because I'm immensely thankful that God allows me to use something that I enjoy so much to put food on my family's dinner table.

The big picture probably isn't quite what many folks paint it when they see my basement full of gear or track the places I get to travel and folks I get to fish with. I don't just get paid to go fishing. That said, I do get spend a fair amount of my work time playing with friends in wonderful places. As importantly, beyond my obvious fondness for fishing, I really enjoy the writing and photography parts of my job.

I'm also very thankful that my work allows me to be self-employed, meaning I can work from home, picks the trips that suit my business and my family and control my own schedule, as long as the work gets done. Although I do travel quite a bit, I believe working from home, with my wife also at home and our children home-schooled, allows me more time with my children than many dads get to enjoy.

Of course I'm thankful for the cool places I get to visit as I gather photos and story material. This year's trips have taken me from New York's Niagara River to South Dakota's Black Hills to Mexico's El Salto.

I don't know what next year (or next week) will bring, but for now I'm happy to be writing fish stories and thankful for each opportunity.

Shopping for Bass

No amazing deals on the pond today, and the  fish didn't even bite especially well. We managed a few, though, and with or without them, I'd have sure rather been out in the johnboat than near any malls on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

We fished the same pond as a couple of days ago, with a friend and me in his boat and Nathaniel and Asher in Nathaniel's boat. While the wind wasn't howling like it did on Tuesday and the water had gone down some, it was still quite muddy. Even black or chartreuse baits disappeared less than a foot beneath the surface.

The two fish I caught both hit a spinnerbait with gold Colorado blades that sent out a fair amount of flash and thump. Both were tight to the bank, and I'm guessing I pretty much landed the bait on their heads. Nathaniel also caught one bass on a flashy metallic-colored jerkbait, fishing it really slowly and hooked and lost one other (the biggest of the morning, of course) on the same bait and presentation.

So Much to be Thankful for Today

Little causes me to fumble for words quite like a desire to express gratitude on Thanksgiving morning. Whatever I write invariably falls far short. Still, with so much to be thankful for, to write nothing would be worse. And so, as I usually do, I'll write about a few of the thinks I'm thankful for, with no hopes of making the listing even somewhat complete.

I suppose I should begin at home, where my wife and six children bring daily delight. Home also serves as my work place, where I sit on the couch and write fish stories, as well as being our schoolhouse, and at times our own little church. I'm thankful that our home is in a small town in the North Georgia mountains and at the end of a road in the shade of old trees.

I'm thankful for the unique way God allows me to make my living. When I'm not sitting here writing, I'm often in someone's boat, knee deep in a creek or kneeling on the ice, chasing fish, fish stories and photos that help tell those stories. Beyond getting to do what I enjoy (which includes the fishing and the writing and photography), I get to travel to so many cool places and spend time with so many wonderful people.

I mentioned my wife Denise and our children -- Sarah, Nathaniel, Asher, Autumn, Eli and Holly --  and I'm so very thankful for each of them. I'm also thankful for my parents, who helped me find my way to a life of writing fish stories.

I'm thankful for morning prayers with Denise, my Bible, our family hymnals and our dinner table, where we all typically share what we read that day.

I'm thankful for friends and time with them, and I won't even begin to name names.

Some things I appreciate seem so random that mentioning any seems trite, but maybe a sampler is in order, so here it goes: mountain laurel, brown trout, prime rib, dulcimer music, early mornings, baseball, cloudy days, almonds, hymns, dark coffee, waterfalls, smiles, a job well done, gratitude... This really could go on for a very long time.

Most of all, I'm thankful for my salvation and for the fact that because of Jesus' blood shed, I can have a relationship with God that is real and personal. I can talk with Him from the same couch where I sit to write stories or the table where He delivers our food, and I continually see the evidence of His work in my life and in family. My gratitude is specific to the one who created me and loves me and is the author of every good gift.

Just Leaves on the Table

Later today, my wife, my six children and I will sit together around our dining room table for my favorite part of the Thanksgiving holiday. No food will be on the table. Just a big pile of construction paper leaves that we've removed from our Thanksgiving tree. We'll then take turns around the table with everyone who can read taking a leaf from the pile and reading whatever is written on it. The words written on the leaves, which will range from "cars and trucks" to names of pets to favored scriptures to flower names to times of the day, all represent something that someone in our home was thankful for on a given day this month. Most will have been written by seven of the eight who will be assembled at the table (Holly, at 4 months, hasn't added any leaves); however, when folks stop by our house while the tree is up, we do sometimes invite them to add a leaf to the tree.

I think it's important to note that as we write and read our leaves, our thankfulness is not generic or just sort of floated out there. We are giving thanks to the one true God who created everything and blesses us with all good things. Although our leaf reading is far from solemn or quiet and indeed includes a lot of laughter as we try to read writing from the smallest hands (and my hands, I must admit), it's actually a prayer of Thanksgiving.

I probably should also acknowledge that I enjoy the Thanksgiving meal as much as anyone, and I value gathering around the table with family to feast on turkey and all the fixings. However, if I had to trade away either the holiday meal or the time we spend around our table at home considering how much we have to be thankful for, it wouldn't even be close.

God has given me so much to be thankful for, and this morning I'm especially thankful for our Thanksgiving tree.

Thanksgiving Tree

Our Thanksgiving Tree truly is one of my favorite things about this time of year. We start it each year near the end of October or beginning of November with a leafless branch from the yard. Each day, from then until Thanksgiving, every family member (except 4-month-old Holly this year) writes something they are thankful for on a paper leaf and hangs it on the tree.

On Thanksgiving Day we all sit around the dining room table and take turns reading leaves.

As the trees outside are shedding leaves, our Thanksgiving Tree is just beginning to put on its fall colors. I try not to peek ahead too much, but I sure do enjoy reading all the stuff that ends up being written on those colorful leaves.

Faith, Family, Friends & Fish

It almost seems cliche' to blog about stuff I'm thankful for this morning. Still, I'd rather risk sounding cliche' than show even a hint of callousness about God's tremendous blessings. In truth, I have so much to be thankful for that it sort of hard to know where to start.

I'm writing from my living room couch, so maybe that's the best starting point. It's the same couch where I just sat with my wonderful wife Denise and prayed about the new day. I'm thankful for my wife, for our daily morning prayer time, for Christ's shed blood that allows us to go directly to God the Father and for a home-centered lifestyle. The same couch is also where I begin most workdays when I am not traveling, and I'm very thankful for the opportunity to make my living by writing fish stories from home.

When I'm not at home, I'm often in the sort of place most folks would only get to visit on vacation and often with a fishing rod in my hand. This year's adventures have taken me from Maine to Alaska to Texas and fishing adventures have ranged from ice fishing for trout in the Colorado mountains to casting Road Runners for giant bluegills in eastern North Carolina. I miss my family when I travel, but I am thankful for the wonderful places I get to visit as part of my work. I'm also thankful for Denise taking care of our home while I'm away. I could not do what I do for a living without her complete support.

I'm very thankful for Sarah, Nathaniel, Asher, Autumn and Eli and for what each adds to our home. It's so fun seeing God's gifts developing in our children. This year, I'm especially grateful for Sarah's Lavender Cottage, which is my oldest daughter's new art studio/gallery, and I've had so much fun watching Nathaniel grow as a performer and teacher in the mountain dulcimer community and as an aspiring outdoor writer.

I'm realizing even as I write this that I won't scratch the surface of all I have to be thankful for, so maybe a list of a few things -- a sampler, which will be far from inclusive and in no particular order -- would be a good way to finish:

My Bible, mountain laurel, the West Fork of the Chattooga River, freshly ground wheat, Sarah's Bible memorization, the Gruber family, bird feeders, smallmouth bass, Miss Charle', Mountain View, carrot juice, Mr. & Mrs. Kollock, pictures from Autumn, the Main House at Acorn Hill, Christ Covenant Reformed Church, my parents and siblings, the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild, dulcimer teachers, Asher's army guy wars, my truck, the Wiese family, running with Denise, our fence, the Community Garden, NGFDA, Central Alliance Church, Friday pizza, our Thanksgiving tree, family praise time, SEOPA, home education, fish stories, hymns coming from Nathaniel's dulcimer, Eli's greetings...