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The Greatest Father’s Day Gift

Howdy, Neighbor. People have been telling Phil he’s a good storyteller for a long time… so we are trying something new and pretty-much non-sales Just sharing occasional sweet stories, tall tales, and life lessons learned around these parts. Northwoods Notes are a new, semi-bi-irregular peek into the heart and mind of Phil Frasier… you can read or listen… whichever you prefer… and you are receiving a copy because you’re a current customer of Frasier’s Plumbing and Heating, Inc. We think you’ll like them, but you can unsubscribe any time by clicking on the link at the bottom. But we hope you give us a chance!

Listen:

Read:

Father’s Day, 1998.

Some dads golf. Some fathers grill out. But my dad and grandpa spent every Father’s Day out on the lake.

This particular Father’s Day, my oldest boy Jarred and I were also fishing from our own boat.

We had already landed a couple of muskies, a bass, and a walleye when I noticed Dad and Grandpa’s boat veering out onto the lake.

We knew they had a sucker out, so we assumed they were following a muskie.

Jarred and I slowly, quietly followed from a distance.

Sure enough, they had found a muskie… and my dad had the rod.

Now, Grandpa fished every single day, but my dad was busy working every day, so he rarely fished.

It was quite a sight. My 89-year-old grandpa coaching my sixty-something dad on how to follow the muskie, watch the bobber, and set the hook.

Grandpa was a pretty good coach… because Dad got the fish.

That was a good day.

We didn’t know it at the time, but that was the last Father’s Day with Grandpa. It was the final time that four generations would be out on the water fishing together.

I snapped a few Polaroids of Dad and Grandpa out in that old blue Lund boat.

That boat became my dad’s and, eventually, it was handed down to me.