By Joe Woody
I know what you’re thinking.
You’ve read the title of my story and have braced yourself for a somewhat sappy tale of spiritual awakening or Christian outreach. Just the mention of a great deity or a supreme being will just turn some people off. No worries…This is a story about Father-Daughter Time.
I spent a lot of time with my Son and Daughter out in the woods just wandering around. We would talk about plants…which ones you could eat…which ones not to touch…which ones you could use for medicine. We would talk about animals, their tracks and the stories they left behind.
Many times, our wanderings would involve a canoe and a body of water. If you ever want to delve into the deep inner workings of your child’s thought processes, spend a day paddling them around a beautiful lake. Barriers come down…imaginations expand…questions are asked and answers are given. Memories are made.
On one of our excursions, my daughter, Kelsey, and I found ourselves paddling around Bear Lake in Jackson County, just outside of Cullowhee North Carolina. If you’ve never been there, make a plan and go. There’s a waterfall falling from a high cliff that will make it seem like you’re in Yellowstone. The water is crystal clear. You’ll catch Bass and Trout and Walleye from its depths. You’ll see wildlife like bear and deer on its shores. There’s a story about wild goats climbing up and down cliffs overlooking the lake. I’ve never seen them, but I’m told they were once there.
Kelsey and I spent the day paddling up to small creeks running into the lake. We talked about the trout that were undoubtedly swimming in their waters.
We paddled out to a small island and climbed up its banks. We spent an hour checking out Wild Orange Daylilies. We located bass beds on the lake bottom. They were easy to spot in the clear water from our elevated location. However, we ran into a large number of biting flies that made us skedaddle back to our canoe.
We then paddled down to the waterfall and walked the short trail to where it splashed into a large pool. We spent a half an hour just staring into its mist.
Our paddle back to our car was magical. Just a Father and Daughter alone with a connection that was so deep and rare that I was absolutely sure that any question about a great spirit had been laid to rest.
She then asked me a question…
Dad, How do you know when God talks to you?
Wow…what’s the answer to that question?
All at once I had the answer. I told her that God, or The Great Spirit, or whatever you decide to call him will speak to you in a way that you will understand if you choose to let it happen. I continued to tell her that anytime I thought God had sent me a message, it was usually in the form of nature like an animal sighting.
On cue, a Bald Eagle flew around the point and buzzed our canoe. It then circled us and flew away. Kelsey turned and looked at me and said, Wow!!! Is that how he does it? I said, “It sure is” then said a quiet prayer of thanks.
I asked Kelsey about that experience the other day. Her memory was sketchy on the whole thing but she did remember seeing an eagle from a canoe and something about a waterfall…she’s 22 now.
I remember it like it was yesterday.
Take your kids out in the wilderness…your faith in the Great Spirit will be restored.
Joe Woody is Co-Publisher of The Angler Magazine WNC with his wife Debra. He is an Army Veteran and a self proclaimed “Adventure Angler”. You can usually find him wandering around Western North Carolina telling fishing lies. He is also a baseball nut and a crazy FCS Football fan. He has a Bigfoot magnet on the back of his truck.