The Right Thing for the Right Reasons

Every now and again I see something that makes me think, "Alright, the next generation will be okay." It's even better when that moment involves your own child.

I took Kyle and his best friend up to the Sierra's over the weekend for some camping and fishing. We met up with my good friend, Dave, and his son Conner. Now Conner's only 10 and he's a bit on the small side, but what he lacks in height, he makes up for in his gusto and heart. He's one really good little kid.

As it goes, Conner almost didn't make the trip when a couple of weeks ago, he became very ill and experienced what the doc's later realized was a diabetic coma. His folks had no previous inkling he had diabetes and a week in the hospital confirmed it; Type 1.

Now, Conner was really looking forward to this trip and Dave, rather than breaking his heart, packed up the insulin, the records books, and all the other stuff and headed on up. Because they are still dialing in treatment, Conner had to have readings almost every hour. He must have felt like a pin cushion with all the needles he felt. But, he was a trooper and took it all in stride.

When they first arrived, it took about an hour of testing, readings, consultation via cell-phone with the Doc, etc. before Conner could hit the water. Kyle & his buddy had already been out for several hours and were getting ready to wrap it up when Conner finally made it out.

On his first cast, he fouled his line. Seeing that, Kyle threw his own lure out at a large trout he had been trying to entice all morning with no effect. Sure enough, the fish hit his lure and as quick as a blink, Kyle handed his rod to Conner and excitedly said "He's yours! Get him!"

Conner tugged and pulled and landed that fish, which turned out to be the largest trout caught by any of us all weekend. Conner was beaming. Kyle was beaming. And I was beaming because, even though Kyle's a surly teenager, he still had the kindness to hand his rod off to a little kid. He could have had bragging rights for the trip, but he did the right thing. In retrospect, I guess he has bragging rights far more than just a big fish.

Conner and his big fish.....