Well, we took our yellow lab Grace down to Houston to get her bred, but I don't think we were successful. She and her "boyfriend" were alone for a couple of hours, but I don't know if we have concrete evidence of puppies on the way. Guess we'll wait and see.
Either way, it wasn't a wasted day. While there, I got to see my friend Hank, who is the breeder we got Grace from in the first place. We got to catch up with him and his wife. It's good to be around someone who knows more about dogs than I do. I picked up a few tips to use in training my dogs.
Changing gears, something horrible happened on the way home. We were on the highway, when I happened to look in the rearview mirror and saw a car airborne behind me. It was the beginning of a terrible accident. The car had flown over the median, and landed in my lane about a hundred yards behind me. Luckily, it wasn't 100 yards in front.
Late last night we learned that the gentleman who was driving the errant car was killed. We stopped and helped all that we could, but there was nothing we could do. It was a sobering moment. It reminded me how fleeting life is. Things can be going perfectly one moment, then the next it's over. There's no assurance on this Earth. It reinforced my gratefulness for my faith in the Lord and made me thankful that I'm ready at any moment, because we never know when we're going to be called out of this world.
On another note, I get to do something really cool on Monday. I'm going to be addressing a group of Cub Scouts. I've spoken with this group before. I love getting to engage children in small groups like this, especially boys who love the outdoors. There will be 10 or 12 boys in the group; I'll take some rods, reels and lures, and we'll practice tying knots. A couple of these boys have fished before, but some have never done it. I hope that it'll excite them enough so they'll want to go learn more and catch their first fish. I want to expand the knowledge of those who have fished.
Before I do that, though, I'll be heading to east Texas. I'm going to prepare for one of my charity events that benefits the Dallas Theological Seminary. The event is next weekend, and it's a lot of fun. For now, I'm just going to change the line on all the reels, clean and charge the boats and take care of some other maintenance issues that creep up from lack of use. These little boats we'll be using don't get used as much as my Skeeter does, so the cobwebs can build up. More on that next week.
Oh, one other thing. This past Wednesday I went to the Waco Optimist Club. It was under slightly different circumstances, though. I've been there a number of times as a speaker, but this time I went as a guest because there was a speaker there I really wanted to hear. It was the Baylor men's basketball coach, Scott Drew. He just had an amazing season this past year. In the modern era, it was Baylor's first Elite 8 appearance. He reflected on that season but also looked forward to next year. It made me excited for basketball season. I got to catch up with Coach Drew for about 15 minutes to talk fishing. That was pretty well my week — busy as usual, but I try to stay busy. I like finding ways to plug in and look for opportunities to connect to other people.
I like to think that God can use me in other people's lives. I'm constantly thankful for the people that He's put in my life. Not only my immediate family, but close friends, too. I've had some pretty good role models in my life. It seems like the longer I live, the more I realize the most important things in life aren't about fishing, they're about the people who are in your life. Finally, I think I've got some plans for my next Falcon trip. I think I may be able to take you along. Stay tuned for more details!