Life Goes On

Well, I managed to survive this weekend. I thought it was going to be absolutely horrible, but it actually wasn't that bad at all. This probably has something to do with the fact that I have an amazing and supportive family and group of friends. I think it also just proves that no matter how difficult things seem to get at times, life does go on. Just because something bad happens in our life doesn't mean we stop living it. Even though we hate them, our hardships make us better, wiser and stronger. Trust me, I would much rather not have this much life experience at the age of 26, but we have to make the best of the hand we are dealt. There are some things in our life that we have control over and some things that we do not. What I have learned is to focus on the things that I do have control over and let go of the things I don't have control over. There is nothing I can do about those things, so why would I allow them make me miserable? Let go and enjoy your life. We only get a short time here in this life, so live it up.

We went out to lunch on Sunday after church with my grandparents. We had a very surreal moment while we were at lunch when I just knew that my dad was with us. Back story...I am deathly afraid of clowns. I hate them. I freak out whenever I see a clown and I have to get away from it right away if I see one out somewhere. Knowing that I am terrified of clowns, my dad used to mess with me about it. He would always joke around and pretend like he was going to hire a clown for me for every special occasion. Every year on my birthday when he would call me, he would always say somewhere in the conversation, "so have the clowns I ordered for you shown up yet?" I always knew he was joking, but I was also secretly afraid that one of these days he was actually going to follow through on his prank. Well, on Sunday he did it. We all went to church together, visited him at the cemetery and then went to lunch. About halfway through our lunch, these two clowns walk into the restaurant. My brother drew my attention to them as they came in. I looked up and jokingly said, "thanks a lot Rocky". Next thing I know, the clowns are walking over to our table. Panic ensued. They came over and talked to us at our table, I of course said nothing because I was frozen in fear. Finally they made their way up to the counter to order their lunch. They didn't visit any other table in the restaurant. It was very odd. Nice prank dad. Touche.

There is a local fishing club that regularly holds bass tournaments that my brother and my dad would sometimes fish in together. In fact, my brother and my dad fished together in the first tournament that this club ever held and won it. The club was holding a tournament on Saturday and when they found out what day it was, they decided to have everyone at it fish in honor of my dad. My brother and my uncle fished the tournament together and while they didn't win anything, I'm sure it was still a very special moment for the two of them. Especially because both of them learned how to fish from my dad when they were little and probably attribute much of their love for fishing to him.

We attended worship service at my parents' church on Sunday. The altar flowers that day were in honor of my dad.

We visited my dad's grave site on Sunday after church. Everyone else in my family has been there numerous times over the past year, but this was the first time I had been there since the funeral. My post from Saturday explains why. I was surprised and very touched to discover flowers from Jared and I's friends when we arrived there. What a sweet gesture. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends.  

Throwback Thursday

Hunting and fishing have always been staple hobbies in my family. The Adams kids do not like to get up early on weekends, that is of course, unless there are animals to be killed. That was a little blunt maybe, but true. Everything I know about hunting and fishing (which I must say is quite a lot for a 25 year old girl), I learned from my brother and my dad at an early age. Looking back, I am so glad that my brother got me interested in hunting and fishing because I feel like I really got to enjoy some of my best moments with my dad out there either in the field or on the water.

My brother is currently up in Tennessee fishing in a BassMasters tournament, so the real purpose of this post is to wish him luck and pray that he catches lots of good fishies!! While we are on the topic though, I managed to come across some delightful throwback photos that involved me and fishing so I figured that I might as well post them on the blog. P.S. - there is a embarrassing fun little fishing story at the end of this post, so don't miss out.

Throwback Thursday: Gone Fishin'

My brother had this nifty little Jon Boat that we kept at my grandma's house growing up because she lived on a lake. We used to take it out fishing when we would stay over at her house. Now, that I think about it...her gated community probably wasn't too fond of us trolling around the lake all the time.

 My brother apparently got his captain's license at a young age. No one seems to be too concerned that a nine-year-old is driving this boat and may or may not appear to be enjoying a cocktail as well :)

Hanging out with the boys...story of my life. Oh yeah, and my brother caught that baby hammerhead shark while standing on the beach which leads me to believe that mama shark probably wasn't too far away. That seems safe. 

I caught this barracuda instead of a legit sport fish. Boo. However, the best part of this picture is not the lame fish I am standing next to, but instead the rocking pair of Oakley sunglasses that I am wearing. Apparently, at 12 years old I was moonlighting as a Major League baseball player.

When you get trapped off-shore in a thunderstorm, what do you do? You keep fishing of course. I'm pretty sure that this is the type of weather my brother was actually fishing in today. Good times.

Spring Break 2011 - I fought this thing for 45 minutes and I thought my arms were going to fall off.

Now, onto my fun fishing story...

Ever since I can remember, I never live baited my own hook. This was especially true when I would go fishing with my dad and brother and we would use live shrimp for our bait. The reasoning behind this? I couldn't bring myself to bite the heads off the shrimp. My dad always told me that when baiting a hook with live shrimp, first you have the bite the head off the shrimp, spit the head into the water and then put the shrimp on your hook. I watched him do this every single time he baited his hook, and I just could not bring myself to do this so I always made him do it for me. I was under the impression that this was the proper way to bait a hook for years. Seriously, years as in like two decades. So Jared and I start dating and I go fishing with him using live shrimp for the first time (I am about 20 years old at this point). While we are fishing, I ask him to bait my hook for me. He says sure and goes to bait my hook. This is where I should have stopped talking. But I don't. I go on to explain the reasoning behind my fear for baiting a live shrimp. I explain to him about biting the head off the shrimp and he literally bursts out laughing. I am confused. He then explains to me that biting the head off the shrimp is not a necessary step in the baiting process and that my dad has been messing with me all these years. No way. So of course as soon as we get off the boat, I call my dad. I explain to him this preposterous idea that Jared has suggested to me. At first, I hear silence and then laughing on the other end of the line. You have got to be kidding me.