Seth.....
As I hunted today, the day before Thanksgiving.....with you in Afghanistan.....I couldn't help but reflect on "Thanksgiving Past."
I remembered.....
It was your first deer season.....2003. We went out the day after Thanksgiving. If you remember....it was cold and blizzard like. Snow and sleet were coming down. I wondered what in the heck we were doing out there. Then....the deer started showing up. You remember what a show?? Big bucks running does all over the field. Twice you had an opportunity to shoot a doe (your first deer) but you said...."No....I am going to wait for one of those bucks." You not only sucked it up in the cold.....you were willing to do what you had to in order to get one of those bucks. We didn't get one that day.....but it is ingrained in my memory forever.
The following year....2004......after Thanksgiving Dinner at Ruth Hassfurder's.....we went out hunting that night. You shot a doe with a .20 gauge.....that we never could find. Never could figure that one out. Next day....I decided to introduce you to the muzzle loader. We hunted the same blind and it was raining so hard we couldn't hear each other talk. You asked me if we were wasting our time....and I pointed out to you the squirrels that were feeding in the field. You remember what I said? I said...."If they are out....so will the deer." Sure enough...about 20 minutes later....two does came out. You picked one out and shot it in a pouring down rain. When the smoke cleared....the deer was laying down on the ground. I'll never forget your first words after that. You said..."This is my new favorite gun!!" And it sure was. You never used another one. It will always be your gun. It sits in the gun cabinet waiting for you.
The pic above was from 2007. After Thanksgiving Dinner at Clifty Inn.....I took you to a spot I "had a feeling" about. I let you hunt by yourself. I set you up against a tree overlooking a creek bottom. You had your cell phone.....and I went rabbit hunting with Mr. Blane. We had not been hunting 10 minutes when I got your call...."Dad....I got him!!" I'll never forget how cool it looked seeing your buck laying up on that hillside.
Yep....the spirit of Thanksgiving Past whispered loudly to me today.
I miss you so much and wish you were home to share a hunt.
Not a moment goes by each day you are not on my mind....and in my prayers.
As Mom said earlier today.....Happy Thanksgiving son to you and your fellow Rakkasans.
All of you....be safe...and come home soon!!
Love,
Dad
