Family Reunion: Kids Fishing

Family reunions were especially big for my father’s father, J. Arthur Thompson.

My brother Gary has taken up the family reunion mantle. He and his wife Patty host an annual family get-together at their lakeside home outside Jacksonville.

Besides the ample good food from the garden, joking around, hearing about the crops, the haying, the bullriding, the sawmills and such…one of the biggest highlights of these gatherings is when Gary takes the kids fishing.

My brother is not only an avid fisherman, he’s good with kids, and kids love him right back. To see them all out there on the dock—sometimes 10 at a time—reeling in their small fish with such great pride—is a sight to behold.