Marty I could not have said it better...Won't even bother to try...
This time of year gets us all thinking about how lucky we really are...Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years...30+ Days of thinking back on what we have done in the last week, month, year, our lives...I always think back on the great speach Jim Valvano gave 20 years ago...If you have never heard or read the speach, do yourself a favor, it is great, and if you were lucky enough to see it live, you would have never forgotten it...One of my favorite lines is "I just got one last thing, I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter and some thought"...
As Marty said, we just don't know what could happen day to day, life tends to throw its biggest curveballs when you least expect it...As the famous urban legend speach of Baz Lurman stated "Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday."
Ok, enough with the intelectual who said what stuff...Here are my thoughts, added to the great thoughts of others...
1> Thanks to all of you here on this board. I have met a great many people this last 12 to 24 months that I may never have met without it...Its not the great number of people I have met, but the greatness of the people I have met...
2> Thanks for letting me take part in the great tradition of fishing with you...I did not say catching (There were a few tough days it there)...But Fishing...Ok, one last quote...A great man named Henry Thoreau once said "Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after"...Many of you have help me live this quote, its not about catching fish, its sharing good times and bad, stories, hopes, dreams, and a shared sense of what being on the water is all about....
3> Scott mentioned biggest and most, I have to second that...For me what a year...First tournament fishing, first red drum, lucky enough to catch striped bass, pickeral, large mouth bass, red drum, croaker, bluefish, spanish mackeral, porgy, sea bass, fluke, and many others this year...Numerous citation fish...learned at least something about how to setup a 51 rod spread from Marty, Don and others...
...Shared the secret to Rattle Trolling (and a number of laughs) with many folks...and much, much more....
What a year....What a month...What a week...What a day...Live life to its fullest everyday, it is sometimes hard to do, but try, you will never regret it...
Thanks to all of you for a Christmas prestent that lasted throghout the year (getting to know you and share our lives)...I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring !!!!
Is the season open yet ?
Merry Xmas to all and to all a Happy New Year !!!
Mike