My dad and my mom were married for 43 years. My mom recently became very sickly and eventually ended up passing away not long after it happened. Obviously after being married for so long, my dad had a pretty hard time with it.
My brother and I knew we had to do something to help him out of his grief. We had a brainstorm session and remembered that before our mom got sick, he used to love going fishing. He’d go on weekend trips with friends, sometimes our mom, even solo.
We couldn’t believe we’d forgotten that, but things were a little hectic with mom’s sickness.
We knew we had to persuade him to go on at least a short trip with us. Our dad was reluctant at first. It took a bit of convincing to get him to give in. We offered to plan and pay for everything. That was the thing that finally pushed him into saying yes.
My brother and I went ahead and made all the plans to go somewhere that was approximately 4 hours away. We rented some of our fishing gear. Dad still had his.
It dawned on us that we’d need a safe way to transport everything and learned that rod carriers exist. They were not cheap, so we had to make an educated and careful decision. A friend recommended we check out Trouts Fly Fishing.
That was great advice. We found the Riversmith River Quiver Rod Carrier on their website. My brother and I opted to buy the 4 rod carrier since there’d be at least 3 of us.
The product was phenomenal. Minimal noise, it didn’t move around on the roof of the car, and everything arrived safe and sound.
My dad was surprised at how much thought, preparation and money we put into it getting this trip together. It was a lot of work, but if it helped our dad work through some of his grief we’d do it for him again a thousand times over.
Everything went better than we even hoped for. The trip ended up giving my dad new life. I think the combo of being away from home, being with his children and doing something he loved really brought a spark back to him.
Since that trip, we’ve planned and gone on many more. Our dad has become way more involved with the planning, especially since he is retired. It’s become quite a hobby for him. He’s made some great finds for us too in terms of destinations and deals.
The whole situation has made a big difference in all of our lives. It didn’t only benefit my dad. It helped us all through our family grief. Our mom would be really happy.
