Celebrating Yesterday

rem·i·nisce

/ˌreməˈnis/

indulge in enjoyable recollection of past events.

This past weekend was  youth season for hunting whitetails.

Almost every state has a hunting season that is committed for the kids, encouraging adult hunters to mentor the next generation. What this looks like in Maryland is a two day season in November that coincides with  the rut and allows for the best possible opportunity for a kid, 16 and under, to harvest a deer. Children need to be accompanied by a licensed adult, with the intent being that the practice of safe and ethical hunting would be passed on to the next generation.

Having three kids under the age of 16 makes this weekend more of a feat than an event. Even at that, some of my favorite memories were made in youth seasons past. The joy of sharing Swiss cake rolls and hot chocolate on a cold November day is an experience that can't be beat, even when it comes at the cost of packing in lots of extra clothes and sleeping bags and stoves way back into the woods in the attempt to keep everyone warm, dry, and happy. The bonus that comes along with success is Dad gets to drag out the deer along with processing the meat, at least if you are a do-it-yourselfer kind of family, which we are. After a successful youth season, the Monday morning meatpole can look overwhelming.

But really, it's much more rewarding than that.

So this morning I'm thinking back on this past weekend and giving thanks.

 It was a good weekend. Not everyone got a deer but everyone had fun and we just had a good time and relished in the comradery  that can only be built by being together on an adventure.

This was Aiyana's last season of hunting as a youth. It was special in that she was able to harvest a nice 8pt. We took a lot of pictures and this morning as I was looking at the pictures, I was amazed at how fast those years of growing up have flown. It seems like just yesterday that we had gone to the 4H camp and taken part in the weekend long hunter safety event that included fishing and staying in the cabins and meals in the lodge and other fun things that the camp offered. Aiyana aced the test at the end and I was the most proud father!

It started my mind rolling back in time, so many memories with the kids. 

And then I went even further back, to when I was 7. We didn't have a youth season back then, but I remember this particular hunt that I went on with my dad way back when. If my memory is right, Dad had a two tone yellowish Chevy Blazer. These were "the thing" back then. Pretty much the original SUV, a family car sitting on top of a real 4x4 truck frame, with a window in the back that rolled down.

Dad went and got a bunch of sodas and chips, a bag full of rag scraps to start a fire, and his .300 Savage. We headed down to Crab Run, climbed the bank above the road, made a roaring fire and sat and waited. Then we hunted back around the side of the hill. Dad jumped a deer but he didn't get a shot. When we went back to the fire there were deer tracks right close by the fire. 

Funny how good your mind can work looking back forty five years but you can't remember where you laid your reading glasses five minutes ago.

As time goes on, the freezing toes, the cold, the disappointments are remembered less. The hot chocolate becomes sweeter, the bond of closeness even tighter, and the  joy and excitement is  unsurpassable. 

And with the holidays coming up, that's how it should be. Let's take time to celebrate, to take time to remember the good things, to remember why we celebrate in the first place.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I look back and can only think how difficult it must have been for the pilgrims to give thanks. But they did. By focusing on the good things, their awareness of their blessings became greater. I doubt if their losses ever became less, but maybe less overwhelming. In time, they passed on through the generations and to each of us, the importance of giving thanks. 

And giving thanks leads to looking back at the good things, and reminiscing to giving more thanks, and giving thanks ultimately leads to joy!

So take some time and just do it!