When I was only two years old she would take me fishing from the banks of the Harpeth River just next to our house.
In 1982 my mom was diagnosed with a very serious skin cancer. I was too young to realize the severity of the situation but have since realized just how serious it was. She told my aunt that the only thing she was worried about was having to leave me. She fought what probably should have been a losing battle and won!
When I was 9 years old my mom had gone shopping for the day and my granddad had taken me down to the river to fish. As I sit there on the bank with a wad of worms on the end of my line my mom had returned home and walked down to the river to see me. Just as she walked up I got a bite and set the hook on a big fish. A 5lb largemouth had decided to engulf my wad of worms for some crazy reason and it was way to big to drag up the steep bank. Without hesitation my mom jumped down the bank and into the edge of the water in her dress clothes and lipped what for a long time was the biggest bass I'd ever caught.
No matter what hobby I chose to take on, my mom would be right there with me. When I was 12 she broke her finger playing me in a game of basketball.
As I got older I began to stray a little from my upbringing as a lot of teenagers do. I started drinking with my buddies on the weekends which I knew was a big no no. I kept it from my mom as I knew she would not approve and in order to do that I had to lie.
As I got older my drinking and lying became my life and I was headed down a dangerous road. Many nights I wouldn't remember driving home and often wondered how I had even made it without killing myself or even worse someone else. In 2001 I was arrested for driving under the influence and taken to jail. My mom picked me up from jail the following morning. She said she knew that I drank and every night that she knew I was out, she would lay in bed and pray until she heard from me in the wee hours of the morning. She asked me just how serious my drinking habit was and that I could tell her anything. For the next several hours we both cried as I told her everything I'd been hiding for so many years. I'll never forget the thing she said last that would forever change my life. She told me if I ever took another drink it would kill her. For whatever reason my own life didn't mean enough to me at the time to stop but her's did. November 20, 2001 was the last drink I ever took and ever will take and I owe it all to her.
My life immediately changed for the better as I had a clear head, a clear conscience and a clear vision of what I wanted to do with the rest of my life which was fish for a living.
I dedicated every spare second after that to fishing. Each year I learned more and more and eventually started winning some tournaments. In 2004 I decided to fish a tournament in the bass club where I'd first started on Old Hickory Lake. I took none other than my mom as my partner. She caught three of our five keepers that day including a 4.64 and a 4.76 lber and we won the tournament by over 12lbs!
In 2006 we received some bad news. My mom had been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. I knew if anyone was strong enough and close enough with God to beat cancer twice, it was her. I had to watch the love of my life go through chemo and radiation treatments for months and it was not a fun experience. I prayed every night that she would beat the odds and win her battle for a second time. I'm proud to say that it's 2015 and my mom still remains cancer free.
In 2009 I reached my goal of calling a bass boat my office and I couldn't have done it without my mom on my side. We've spent some fun days on the water the last few years and I'm looking forward to many more.
So, to my fishing partner, my mentor, my best friend, my guardian angel, my hero, my MOM....Happy Mothers Day. I love you more than you could ever imagine.
No comments:
Post a Comment