What I learned from my Father...

My father shooting a birch arrow I made.

 

My father taught me how to hunt, and how to ride horses and snow-gos and boats to get to the hunting grounds. He taught me how to camp and build a fire when we got there, and how to cook over that fire. He taught me how to tell stories to friends around the fire we just cooked over, and how sometimes the only friends a man needs to have around the fire are his wife and children. My father taught me how to survive blizzards, rain storms and shit-storms. He taught me how to appreciate the finer things in life, like a good cup of coffee, a good book, a straight shooting rifle.
And today, Father's Day, the day I was born, his father's day gift --- now my first as a father --- I realize something else he taught me. The most important gift of all. He taught me how to be a father, too.

Don Rearden
6/19/2011