Fathers: James Fox
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, in conversation with Joe Gannon, we rolled around the idea of starting a site that offered the findings of cool dads from across the world, a Selectism for fathers if you will, or what I thought Urban Daddy was all about when first I heard of it.
While that never came to fruition, this year, for Father’s Day, I asked some of the most stylish dads I know to offer their thoughts on fatherhood, a letter to their kids, or whatever else fit their fancies. First up, the man, the Fox, the legend, Mr. James Fox of 10 engines, who has shown, repeatedly, that Vermont may well be the raddest state in the Union. Here, he shares a story of his boys and one of those reasons for Vermont’s radness.
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If you teach a child to fish… etc.
(Rejected title; don’t spare the rod.)
This is ostensibly about last weekend with our 2 wee boys but I realize now that it is pretty much a Father’s Day love letter to them. In the vein of teach a man to fish and he’ll eat forever, teaching or at least exposing your kids to a new skill/experience gives us all (the family) an activity that we can enjoy together forever, if we are lucky. I also hoped these experiences would boost their confidence to simply learn and enjoy new things. Anyway, they had fun…
We just had VT Days. Not simply meaning a weekend in Vermont, VT Days is a statewide day of license-free fishing. To sweeten the pot the state ponds are stocked the day before (even some 12”-16” trout, not bad). We dusted off an old rod and stopped off at the hardware store -$4 in hooks and floats later and we are in business. The rubber worms almost blew their minds…
BTW is anything more nostalgic than those super basic Eagle Claw packs? Good stuff.
Long/short it was a fascinating and heartwarming/proud moment to watch #1 son casting and reeling in the line all by himself. #2 son kept up a constant stream of “me try” and worked the reel sometimes. Even better was watching our eldest sit down and just enjoy the view; content(!) on this rainy Saturday afternoon.
“Let’s just wait and see what happens,” he says.
Record scratch. Let’s just sit and wait, quietly, and see what happens?? I’m taking that one to the bank…
In the end we caught no fish. Didn’t even get a bite. A guy nearby got a hit though… bobber bobbed. That was enough for the boys to get fired up. Family fun indeed. We need to buy some more line….
