Reconecting With An Old Friend While Fishing The Bow River

Connecting and Reconnecting

Some times life happens fast and time passes us by so quickly. Before I know it another year has come and gone. I remember when I was younger time never seemed to fly by that fast. I grew up in a good neighborhood with many kids my age on the block. I was very energetic as a child and loved all types of sports. I grew up with my mother and my two grandparents, my mom’s dad and mother and my sister. My grandfather was like my father as my mom and dad divorced when I was five. My grandpa would get up with me in the morning and take me to hockey practice and stay and watch me play and practice. He loved me and I sure loved him, he did so much for me when I was young. Tragically my grandpa had a freak mishap and fell off a ladder fixing the venting ducts in our house. He broke three ribs and was in the hospital for a week and later passed away from a blood clot that went to his heart and killed him. I was devastated! I lost not only my grandpa but my father figure in one fatal accident.

I remember feeling sad for a long time. Lucky I had good people in my life at that time of my loss. I hung around with a few of my friends often. One of my friends was Bobby Scott. His family stepped up when my grandpa passed away. His dad Rodger always took me golfing with them when he and Bobby were going out. Rodger worked in Olds at a gas plant. He would work four on and four off. When he was working he would drop Bobby and I off at the golf course in Carstairs and carry on to work from there. Bobby and I would golf all day, usually thirty six holes before Rodger would arrive and pick us up after work. We did this for several summers when school was out and I excelled at golf. I also loved the fact that I was able to do the things I was passionate about and do extremely well at them. Because of Rodger, I got to partake in sports and carry on with my love of golf. Bobby and I became very close friends and very spirited in all of the sports we excelled in.

Time seemed to go by more rapidly as we grew. Then Bobby moved away and we lost contact. Bobby finished school as did I and we lost touch around the age of fifteen. I always thought of Bobby and his family most of my life. Those street hockey games we played on the block to our entrepreneurial endeavors selling golf balls on the second hole of the Inglewood Golf and County Club. Bobby moved to Russia where he spent many years over there starting a family and working. I stayed here in Alberta and started a career in the collision repair industry. Twenty years passed us by without a letter or any type of contact. I always remembered Bobby and his family. I told my other friends the stories about all the fun we had as kids growing up.

I was working in the south east part of Calgary a few years back and decided it was time for a lunch break. I drove to an unusual restaurant and sat down for a hot meal for lunch. The waitress arrived at my table and asked me what I would like to eat. I ordered and she came back a short time later with my meal. It was quit in the restaurant and we chatted for a couple of minutes. She mentioned to me in our conversation that her boyfriend grew up in Dover, “Really I said, that’s where I grew up, what’s your boyfriends name”. “His name is Bobby Scott”. “Bobby Scott, get out of here. Does he have red hair, a brother and one sister”? “Yes he does she replied, that’s my Bobby”. I asked her to give him my phone number and mention to him that I was interested in reconnecting. A few days later I called Bobby to reconnect. We spent a good hour on the phone catching up on all that time that flew by so swiftly. During our conversation I let him know that I was a fishing guide on the Bow River. I asked him to come out fishing with me any time he wanted to. I talked to him on the phone last week and invited him to come out with me this weekend. He was very excited to go out on the Bow River and catch some trout. I was excited to just spend some time with my old comrade again; the trout were but a bonus for me.

Bobby brought along a friend with him who is also a fisherman. All three of us had a grand day and there were many trout caught and released yesterday. You can catch and release a nice trout but you cannot catch and release an old friendship. I’m very grateful to have Bobby back in my life and will always call him a close friend for life. I think the next trip will involve his father Rodger to give back to him what he gave to me as a young boy.