Grumpy Old Fisherman

Grumpy Old Fisherman

8x8 oil on board with black wood floating frame

My Grampy, (Pretty in Pink’s husband) was a serious guy. When I was little I was always a bit scared of him. He didn’t raise his voice or say scary things, he just gave a look that said what a thousand words couldn’t. Well, Grampy loved to fish and he took that seriously too. He taught my dad how to fish and they often spent every spring fishing in the mountains. They would head out to the stream hours before the starting time to claim their spots. Neither one of them had a lot of patience for casual fishermen and although they didn’t complain, they were not happy to stop fishing to help the rest of us with snags and broken lines. When Grampy got old, his fishing skills were diminished. His last opening day he headed off to the stream before everyone else to get a head start. By the time we were at the stream Grampy had gotten tangled in sticky bushes on the path to the stream. My dad and uncles walked right past him, letting him fend for himself, and he was not happy. You could hear him grumbling from the cabin across the road. My husband rescued him from the tangled mess much like he had saved my husband, only with much more patience. I can still see Grampy stomping back to the cabin and declaring he was done! I can also see my dad laughing at the story later that day. Fast forward 30+ years. We took my dad for his last fishing trip last summer. I had 3 extra rods and at one point he had all 3 tangled and snagged. He grumbled. I tried not to laugh. Sometimes history repeats itself.