As you get older I think we just start to appreciate the simple things a little bit more, or at least we should. What better way to spend a miserable windy, rainy and chilly day then with your daughters. I don't know how to describe it, and if you are my age or older then you probably get what I mean. From zero to 18 years old you are their lifeline, their protector, their teacher and disciplinarian. Well after all
that there comes a time where you just like to sit back and be in their space, like really enjoy being in their space, and just listen and watch them. There's no need to listen and then advise, like we used to, just kinda treat them like a grown up. It's one of my favorite things about getting old.
So Juliet and I went for a visit to St. Joseph's yesterday. It was her first time visiting her sister since she left for a college about a month ago. I remember way back to 2015 when Juliet started her first year
at FIT in NYC. She has gone on from graduating there to a career in cosmetics design and marketing. I am very proud of her and see how grown up she has become. They may grow up but it's the good years, well the war years, that I remember most as I feel our best parenting years were then. They needed us and we needed them. Pretty soon we'll just need them. You know, for bathing, eating, toileting...you
know, return the favor time.
So every parent know that a good college visit ends with, "Do you need anything from the store?". We hit the Acme on Lancaster Avenue which put us right near Orvis Haverford. Knowing that this week won't be fishy I stopped in to see about some things. I asked the girls if they would like to join me and a,
"No we're good" reply was what I got.
I like the Haverford store. It's big. You can hang there for a bit if you want. And it has a fly shoppy feel to it. While there I watched as customers finished up with one of the salesmen. It was a lone middle aged guy and a middle aged couple. It was obvious they were both new to the sport. The guy got all set up for steelhead and dropped over $1,200...ouch, and the couple more of the trouty kinda Clearwater starter kit set-ups. There were waders strewn about but I'm not sure if and who went for them. But for a nasty Sunday sales were happening at Haverford.
I again found the discount rack. Last time I scored a redfish hat and this time I stopped and saw a water, maybe resistant, hat that was $15. with rain around the next week I thought this hat would serve me well. I'll go $15 for a hat, but these days $25 and up seems to be what hats cost, all the while just advertising for someone else.
I am now into trying to find the best wader socks I can. I won't go into it further here but this year has been a big wader year for me. You remember all of the Simms drama which led to me scratching that path and going with the Orvis PRO zip line in both the stocking and boot foot models. But as good as the waders are the socks you wear are very important. So I begin the search this week.
In the end I didn't go with the above gray lid. There must be something appealing to my cerebellum with that orange Orvis color because this morning as I penned this I realized how similar the two hats I had purchased were. Maybe it's my love of all things fall from the fall run to the food to the foliage.
So even though the weather was crappy, and will be, and there was no fishing to be done, there is better way I like to spend my Sunday then with my kids. One on one, six on six, with or without there significant others, it's all good, and makes me feel good.
