Addicted to Fishin’

You know, nowadays you hear or see the word addiction very often, commonplace…Drug addiction, sexual addiction( or what the Bible referred to as promiscuity), food addiction, …you name it…..Folks nowadays seem to very commonly be addicted to one thing or the other, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, etc….etc….

The world appears to be gripped in addictions of one sort or the other, sad to say…..However, there are some addictions that can serve a person well, bringing them contentment, a sense of peace, and even satisfy physical hunger…This healthy addiction I am speaking of is the addiction to “Fishin’”…..

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                Now, lots of people love to fish and go to great lengths and expense to be able to travel occasionally to places where the fishin’ is known to be “top notch”…Now that’s one group of folk….But now the kind of folk I’m referring to are the kind of folk that don’t just like or even love to fish…..The kind of folk I am referring to are the folk that not only love to fish, but “have to fish!”…One person leading the pack in this group of folk is my brother Scotty…..Now, ever since Scotty was physically able to carry a fishin’ pole and walk at the same time, he has been one who “has to fish”…..Not just once, twice or even three and four times a week, but everyday……….Scotty lives to fish….loves to fish…..must fish…..period.

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                Now, Scotty(or Scott, now that he is approaching his 50’s,…..he’ll always be Scotty to me) Scotty has always been a hard workin’ young man.  Industrious, conscientious, reliable and dependable, he has worked very hard to be a good provider for his family and has always tried to “do the right thing” in every situation, with a good attitude and a smile on his face…..However, there are those rare times when you might catch him off guard, rather stonefaced and quiet……He’s not mad, sad or even preoccupied….He is in the very “throes of fishin’ addiction”….All he can see, hear, feel and think is, “gotta getta line in the water, gotta getta line in the water!!!!

                Back in his younger days, if he wasn’t able to get close by to a body of water, that had to contain at least some “brim or crappy”, he could  at times become a little surly, sullen and restless…..This is when we all first noticed that he might be in need of “reel therapy”…..”reel and rod therapy”.  He would just kinda walk around with a very serious face, quiet and stoic, and go about his business…However, that same day, if he was able somehow to be blessed by the good LORD to be able to get to at least a pond or creek, he would come home just smiling from ear to ear….Just beaming…Then he would start cutting up and teasing back with you, even if he had to gripe about how “sorry” and “no account” the pond was for fishin’….We all knew it didn’t matter……”he gotta line in the water”……

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                Fishin’ was also a common love that birthed a close bond between Scotty and myself…..Mainly because I was the only one that would get up at 4:30 am in the morning to go with him!  Guess he figured his sister couldn’t be all bad if she was smart enough to appreciate the very real necessity of “fishin”.

                After  Scotty grew up and was able to afford to buy the kind of home he wanted for he and his faithfully devoted better half, his wife Pam, and their two children, Heidi and Oscar, none of us were surprised when we saw he bought a beautiful, yet simple downhome style of cabin, off the beaten path..

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And he finally was able to enjoy all the fruits of his labor that he had worked so hard for…and treat his addiction at the same time…..He bought a house with a lake in the frontyard…….So now, Scotty is content all the time, in the bad times and the good, cause no matter what adversity or crisis or just plain ole’ bad day may come, Scotty “can get a line in the water”…