Back in June, Emily's side of the family organized a camping/cabin trip for all of the cousins at Bass River Resort near Steelville, Missouri. It was a packed weekend of lounging in the river, grilling all meals over a fire, drinking cheap domestic beers, and wrangling a bunch of children. Between my and Emily's siblings, we have 13 nieces and nephews as a couple, ranging from 8 months old to 8 years old. The oldest, Johnny, and I get along great, not in small part due to the fact, as Emily likes to point out, that we are on similar maturity levels. The great thing about Johnny though is that the kid is obsessed with fishing. I am not throwing out the term "obsessed" lightly either. I've fished with him and his dad, Steve, before, and he doesn't whine, complain, or say he's bored. He bates his own hooks and reels in his own fish, and he's been bugging me for years now to take him trout fishing.
Our Mr. Miyagi and Daniel-San relationship started out small. I would bring my fly rod along to a trip to Emily's parents and we would practice false casting in the field across the street. He handled the 8.5 foot pole as well as a person who was less than half that tall could be expected to. He was desperate though to get out on the stream and try the real thing.
