As I recall, during the 1980s, Buckeye Sports Supply, a Canton, OH business, gave away fishing poles to 5th grade students in Stark County school systems. Any student who wanted a fishing pole could get one by writing an essay about fishing. A few essays were selected as winning essays. I don’t know what made an essay a winner. The writers of the winning essays were rewarded with a fishing trip to a lake south of Canton on a farm owned by John, the owner of Buckeye Sports Supply.
Now I have never been a fisherman. I was raised on a dairy farm so we were in the barn twice a day milking cows. When we weren’t in the barn we were in the field. I enjoyed that life, but it didn’t allow much time to do other things. As a result I didn’t fish as an adult. Therefore, my kids didn’t fish. There were occasions were they might have gone fishing with a friend’s family, but that would have been very seldom. So we were a little surprised when Tim, our 5th grade son, came home from school and said he won a fishing trip. He explained the essay opportunity and his was a winning essay. He shared that he wrote about how much he enjoys fishing with his Dad. All the great times we had were so special and so on. I felt bad that his great experience was imaginary, but he had accepted the essay challenge and enjoyed the fishing trip. All this came to mind because we recently found a picture of Tim with the fish he caught at the lake. I will leave it to Tim to make corrections to this account in the comments. I have O.L.D. and may not have remembered things exactly right. Here is the photo.
3 Responses
You gave us lots of real memories too… Like taking us for rides on your leg and on your work trips….
Pretty much got it right dad. I wrote about how I love getting up in the morning before the sunrise and going fishing with my dad. I was told once to never let facts get in the way of a good story 🤣😂. I also got to keep the fish and I remember it being in our freezer for way longer than it should have been. Not much you can do with a wee little bass. It was a good essay, a good fishing trip, and a great childhood! Heck, maybe a story about a fishing story is more memorable than any fishing trip.
I can see that the project I have set for myself these weeks in Ohio is well worth the effort. Scanning photos from the past and purging the storage space has taken a few years for me to be able to emotionally let go of the actual photos. This one is a joyful memory for me as well, this momma’s heart is still proud of her boy’s abilities. Writing a book is something everyone encourages Jr to tackle, but maybe a collaborative effort on my four children’s childhood memories would be interesting also???