db: Mark Davis, giving thanks

Giving, thanks, takes no holiday, giving, thanks is supposed to be a daily event, a daily thought.

“They started out as blessings first…”

Dateline: My Thanksgiving Table

At our table this day we will take a moment for sorrow,
We will remember the souls of the Paris attacks
We will remember the souls of the Mali attacks
We will speak the names of heroes
We will speak the names of the innocent
We will not glorify the cowards
We will not glorify savages
We will not glorify evil
Each will seek guidance in their own way
And we will look at each other with love
In the end, love wins
In the end, hate loses
At our table this day we will toast goodness
Giving, Thanks this and every day.
Join us.
db & family

“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”
~Willie Nelson

“Yep db, this Thanksgiving, this one is going to be more special, yep it is.” ~Mark Davis.

Yep.

Ditto that from me as well.

Nine weeks to this day, nine weeks pre Thanksgiving Elite Angler, Mark Davis, standing under the Yamaha tent at the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year event gave me another quote … this: “I have skin cancer on my lip, serious, surgery is next week.”

And as Mark was telling me this, on my phone this text appeared from my doctor: “Your Brain Scan is in, call me.”

Yep.

More special this Thanksgiving.

Giving, Thanks.

“…if you got someone…”

I will sit with my family this day of thanks.

Mark will sit with his family this day of thanks.

Neither sit down was a given.

We as human beings know of death, know that nothing ever lasts forever, but we push it to the back of our minds, we don’t dwell on it, can’t dwell on it for it will paralyze us.

Death, death, death. Our end starts with our beginning. Life is the number one cause of death.

“I was told if the cancer on my lip spread to my lymph nodes, then, then, you know db, not so good.”

“You know Mark the day you told me about your skin cancer, that same day I was waiting to hear if the Brain Scan MRI I had found a tumor in my brain.”

“Dang.”

And in that moment with Mark in Texas, and me up here in Connecticut, in that one moment, in the silence of that moment, Mark and I became even better friends.

Close call, bonding.

“…who loves you…”

As Mark was having skin cancer on his lower lip, the story I wrote about it came out on Bassmaster-dot-com and then this happened…

2,700 people liked the story (that’s huge).

77 people commented (also huge).

I have no idea how many people read it, how often it was shared but I know this, dozens and dozens of people emailed with prayers for Mark, two of which I had to use Google Translate to read.

Mark and Tilly, his wife, were overwhelmed with well-wishes and people praying for them.

“Mark, people all over the planet were praying for you…”

“…one of the most humbling times of my life, truly touching, the compassion of the people was special, so very special.”

I know Mark is a very religious man but I wanted to know if he was a spiritual man as well…and trust me, there is a difference, so I asked, “Do you think all the prayers helped?”

Silence.

This was not bible time, this was not kneel in the pews time, this was soul searching time, time when doctrine gives way … to belief.

“…I do, absolutely, I think I dodged a big bullet, cancer, CANCER is a scary thing, scary.”

Some look at prayer as physics, positive energy, atoms, matter, star stuff, and there could be something to that, we all have particles in us that date to the beginning of the universe, the moment of the Big Bang.

So I give a nod here to science.

But when facing cancer, when facing brain tumors, when people all over the planet pray for you, when you bow your own head and pray, plea, pray, pray, pray, and you dodge the big bullet, you give another nod.

That nod goes to the hand that threw the switch that lit the Big Bang.

Yep.

“…and a steady job that puts food on the table…”

“I’m doing fine.”

When Mark says “fine,” the word hangs in the air, a melody of hope, “F__i__n__e.”

Only those who can roll that word off their tongues really get what I mean.

The longer that one syllable lasts, the better those saying it feel.

“I’ve had no set backs, it healed up good, I’m not, you know, disfigured.”

Mark says some day’s his lip, “is a little numb,” 17 stitches will do that but they have all been removed and that, “turns out I won’t need plastic surgery after all.”

Then, “I’m like that old truck you have, now and then it needs to get fixed up some but it just keeps running and running, worn some but still running strong.”

Yep.

“…if you’re strong and able…”

Coming to thankful has been the longest journey of my life.

Most of my life I have been a post-thankful kind of guy, never really gave thanks until I needed to give thanks, never before.

When things are good I’m not saying thanks much, when things are bad, I’m non-stop thankful.

If you read between the lines of faith, you’ll find, as I am finding, that the point is to always be in a state of thanks.

“What I went through, db, what I went through certainly changes your perspective on things, sure focuses you on the important things…”

Coming to thankful changes perspectives.

Thanksgiving is a holiday.

Giving, thanks, takes no holiday, giving, thanks is supposed to be a daily event, a daily thought.

Make everyday a day of Giving, thanks.

Take it from two old trucks who feel, F_i_n_e…

Who escaped a big bullet headed their way.

From Mark and his family…

From me and my family…

Happy Thanksgiving…

…we’re Giving, thanks for all of you…

…and all we have.

Everyday.

Yep.

“…man, be grateful.”
Be Grateful
The Farm

db

“I’m thankful for every moment.”
Al Green

Editor’s note: Don Barone’s Thanksgiving columns have become popular a yearly tradition on Bassmaster.com. Read more: A soldier’s Thanksgiving; Thanksgiving with Ike; Thanksgiving with Crews Column | Pictures.