Promised fulfilled at last

About six years ago I wrote a short story called The Promise about me fly fishing for bass one afternoon. I only had a short time to fish because I had promised my 3 year old grandson Logan that I would come over for a while. During the course of the story I caught one small bass which I released and then off to fulfill my promise to visit with him. In the story I also promise that one day I would be taking him along with me.

Well time has come and gone and he has grown and is now 9. During that period of his growing up we survived three hurricanes, 2 which flooded our home and the third which pull part of the roof off the house. Those events really kept me busy. Then along with those happenings my Father passed away after a lengthy illness which required me to really give up most of my free time to his care. After his passing we had a reprieve for a few months and then it was Mom's turn to be taken care of. It came to the point that she had to be put in a home because we could give her the care she needed. So at least 3 days a week after work I visited with her and on Sunday I went to Mass at the home with her. At the same time my Father in law was going done fast and moved in with us. His passing and shortly after that Mom's passing left our lives empty for a while.

That Promise has been lurking in my mind ever since I made it to myself. Today I was able to fulfill that promise. I picked him up shortly after daylight and we drove over to the store for gas and goodies. Then it was off to the launch to put the boat in. I felt a great sense of pride at being able to do this. We put the boat in and off we went. He enjoyed the boat ride very much especially hitting waves and splashing water. We got to the fishing hole just as the sun started beaming down. Man did it get hot. Logan didn't seem to mind and we both drank a lot of water. The fish were cooperating and we hauled in around 30 bluegills and 1 slab. It took him a while to get the hang of it but by the time we left he was confident enough to make cast and reel in some fish. Learning the hook set was the hardest part.

When we got home he thanked me dearly for helping him learn how to cast and fish. He was very sincere about it and the way he put it, it kind of touched this old man in the heart. It was a great day for him and an even greater day for "PawPaw". Hope to do it more often after this heat breaks. Below are a few pictures of Logan and his PawPaw "gene" (he gave me the name). Hope I haven't bored y'all but it meant a lot to both of us.
"gene"