the last time
General Topic
Not sure if its the time of year that makes some of us look back and reminisce; whether its the past hunting season, year, decade, etc. Last night I found myself lost in thought about hunting days gone by and friends I've lost touch with over the years.
One thing I took away from my trek down memory lane was the idea that there are a lot of things we do for the "last time" with out even realizing it. For example, in junior high, high school, and my first two years of college I duck hunted prob 40-50 of a 60 day season. Couldn't tell you the last time I hunted a duck or who I was with (likely no one as it would have been late season) or if I even saw a bird. But obviously there was a last hunt. The same can be said for any event/ activity I suppose, but it made me thing for a bit.
Not intended to be a depressing thread... maybe just a reminder to myself and anyone who reads to keep a hunting journal and really work to commit some experiences to memory. One day soon enough these memories will be the good-old-days.
Now, I have a couple knot-headed kids and with any luck I'll soon be looking for 4-10 gauge steel-shot and pulling wooden arrows out of the siding of the house :)
There are worse things you could be doing with/for those kids. I sure remember teaching my son to bowhunt. He’s 40 now and going on our first elk hunt together next fall.
There have been several things that I’ve done for the last time. Thankfully, there have been just as many that I now enjoy since doing them for the first time!
I was talking to a friend of mine this morning about things that we had done together in the past. He’s not one of my best friends, but a friend nevertheless. We’ve hunted together, successfully and otherwise, but just haven’t communicated much in the last few years. When you get as old as we are, people you know are dying and it comes home to you that you’re gonna be one of them in the not too distant future. He’s successfully fought off bone marrow cancer in the last couple years, and just got to deer hunt for the first time in three years this fall. I’m thinking the last time we hunted together is not gonna be THE LAST TIME. Not yet.....
I'm beyond my mid-seventies and there are a lot of things I have done for the last time. Still though I keep trying to keep doing the things important to me even though I may not do them as well and they may take longer. So far, I'm still in the game and still shoot my longbow, my recurve, and my compound. Archery, bows & arrows, bowhunting...they all have been in my life since I was a kid and I never plan to not be as active as I can. I said to my wife the other day, "hey dear, only ten more months til the rut starts and we head to camp." I got "that" look and she thought I was joking in my anticipation. Wrong! I had started the countdown!
I keep trying to do something for the first time every year. Some of them are "firsts and lasts" but I'm a cup half full guy and emphasize the firsts ;)
But I completely understand what you're saying. I always assumed I'd have more kids. When all of a sudden it isn't an assumption it hit me that if I never had another one, then the stuff of last year with my daughter would never happen again. Totally made me look at raising her differently. Every day is a gift.
Right there with you APauls. My last fly fishing trip with my only daughter may well be the last. She's now a total city girl with no interest anymore. Still, I keep all the flies she tied and the rods she built just in case..
As for me, I also try to do something new every year. We can't stop living or entropy will set in. Thats not good for the prospects of a long life.
Case/I am right there with you. Loving every minute.
