Trout Republic

I knew this old man who loved to tell the same story over and over and over, like old people often do. He got such a huge kick out of it, though, so we all tolerated him and laughed along. The story went something like this: a private detective was hired by a woman to find her son, a Mr. Dun, as he had seemingly disappeared into thin air.

The search soon expanded to a world wide adventure but each time the detective almost caught up with the missing man, he disappeared again. Finally in the wilds of Tibet the detective thinks he has tracked Mr. Dun down and goes into a bar which is devoid of people.  He asks the bartender if anyone else is around. The bartender says well only one guy who is out back in the outhouse.

The detective quickly proceeds out to the outhouse only to be met by a man coming out of the privy. The detective blurts out “Are you Dun?” and the man stammers, “Yes.” To which the Detective says, “Go call your mother.” I know. It's a cornball joke but my friend found great joy in telling it over and over much like Ol’ Dutch has been known to do on different subjects of course.

For you see the problem is as we get older we can't remember who we told what and, to be quite honest with you, we don't care. You only have to be around an RV park all summer to find out that this is not only happening on a daily basis but also quite common in occurrence.

And I said all that to bring us around to this week's highlight of another Holiday Weekend. That's right. It’s Mothers Day come Sunday.

There is one thing I guess that joins us all in the human experience for sure and that is we all had a mother at one time or another regardless of our present circumstances. Think of all the mothers in the world. Some were overprepared for the arrival of the bundle of joy. And, some were a bit more nonchalant about the event.  No matter what, though, most of them loved us deeply.

I know. There are always a few bad apples out there who for one reason or another were terrible at the job but this weekend we are going to celebrate the good mothers with the bad regardless. For without their contribution of bringing us life we would not be around to bother other people.

Ol’ Dutch has a wonderful mother and I was also fortunate to have known Miss Trixie's mother before she passed to her great reward. She was a jewel like none other.

We were both fortunate to have been raised by women who loved us deeply and always wanted the best for us and I believe it showed throughout our adult lives. Miss Trixe, of course, got the best of training and it seems to have stuck as she is a great partner to me, friend to others and helpmate like no one I know. And Ol’ Dutch also had a great time growing up with a good mother even though some or most of that training may have been forgotten along the way according to Miss Trixie.

Come Sunday, take time to call your mother or take her out to lunch. And if your mother has passed away like ours, take your wife or best friend out in celebration of the day. And when the waitress asks you at the end of your meal, “are you done?” you can smile and recall my old friend and say “yes.”

Kevin Kirkpatrick and his Yorkie, Cooper, fish, hunt, ATV or hike daily. His email is [email protected]. Additional news can be found at www.troutrepublic.com