Rusty's Ramblings May 06

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No Good Deed Goes Un-Punished

Published:
1-May 2006

Every once in a while you get a chance to do something nice for someone. Often it's a chance happening, but occasionally you get the opportunity to do a little planning. I got that chance a couple of Sundays ago. The planets aligned just so, and it looked like I was going to be able to take my step-father fishing. His name is Dick Spencer. I consider myself fortunate, not everyone gets two fathers. Because of his health, this avid fisherman hasn't wet a line for over 5 years.

Dick is pretty rickety on his feet these days. He can't get around very well anymore. This is probably a good thing because, even if he could get around, he couldn't see squat once he got there. He doesn't see so good anymore either. You're beginning to see the undertaking that getting him near water was going to be.

I also had to consider my mother. As you may know if you read the front page of this newsletter, she has Alzheimer's disease. We can't leave her at home by herself. She gets around like a second baseman and has the eyes of a hawk. She could disappear like a wisp of smoke and who knows when she might turn back up? Again, the obstacles are fairly apparent against pulling this off successfully.

I called on my sister to watch my mother for a few hours while Dick and I went fishing. Everything was kind of set for a late morning early afternoon drop-off of my mother at my sister's. Like most well laid plans, life likes to jump right in with both feet. Once my two girls found out about the trip there was no way they weren't going to be included. "Fishing! Did someone say fishing?"

Now we have two more anglers and gear to stuff in the truck. Room wasn't going to be a huge problem but we were getting to the point where the shear volume of people involved was grinding our forward momentum to a halt. Finally the day comes and our plan begins to move forward steady by jerks. Church runs a little long; my youngest daughter comes home from a Girl Scout camping trip hungry and un-showered for about three days. We're already behind schedule getting to my mother and Dick's house. We walk in and Charlotte has a ways to go before she's quite ready to leave.

We load up Charlotte and Dick, his fishing gear which included this huge duffle bag full of I don't know what all, two tackle boxes, his fishing pole and a wheelchair. We're crusin' now boys! We arrive at my sister's almost an hour past our latest estimate to find the place deserted. You've got to be kidding me. I call her up on her cell phone and she answers from the ninth hole of the local golf course. "Well you didn't show up and you didn't call." She's right, with so little on my mind how could I have been so inconsiderate!

Back into the truck we go, I ask Charlotte "well, would you like to come with us?" She thinks about it for about half a second, "no thanks" she answers. We're not close enough to the water yet so I can't throw myself off of a bridge.

At that point I make an executive decision and take the whole parade to the riverfront area I had chosen. After everything and everybody was unloaded we had a truly wonderful three hour fishing expedition. This area had a wheelchair ramp that went right to a small pier perfect for Dick to fish off of. There were walking trails for Charlotte and my girls to explore when they weren't fishing, plenty of sun and plenty of shade. Nobody caught a thing .

In the end it didn't matter a bit. The look of pure contentment on Dick's face for three hours that afternoon, and the tears of gratitude from my mother for making him so happy were more than enough to make up for any inconvenience I may have had to endure. In fact I felt a little small about some of the less-than-kind thoughts that had crossed my tiny little mind that day. The machine is already in motion to get him out again. If you get the chance to do something nice for someone, do it. Its well worth all of the lumps you will take for it.

Oh my achin' head,

Rusty