I know it might seem like a boring pastime to some, but I am beyond excited about fishing with my dad this Father’s Day. We are not fishing in an expansive ocean or by a popular lake. Instead, our favorite fishing hole is the beautiful pond behind my dad’s apartment community.
My dad and I have been fishing in this pond – and releasing the bass we catch – since I can remember. The pond is near the apartment that I grew up in. This is the apartment where dad created a fun, loving environment for my sister and I, after our mom left. We had so many happy times in our third-floor apartment. We loved to play card games on our patio or simple, inexpensive games such as hide-and-go-seek and building crafts indoors.
As I grew older, I savored quiet moments on the apartment balcony, surveying the trees and flowers outside our window. But it was the pond near our building that always grabbed my attention. That was the best place to be! Dad and I got up early every Sunday morning – we rarely missed a week – from the time I was five years old until I graduated high school. It was our thing. My older sister was not really into it. We went to the nearby donut shop, got our donuts and coffee for the morning, and then walked to the pond. We sat there for hours, by the pond surrounded by gorgeous oak trees, sometimes in complete silence and sometimes gabbing about everything under the sun.
I miss those days. After I went off to college, there just never seemed to be enough time on my visits home to go to our old watering hole. Once I had kids of my own, I was too busy to visit much at all. Then dad was diagnosed with throat cancer three years ago. I suddenly realized how short life is and how little time we have with those we truly care about. I began spending more time with my dad after that. After radiation treatments however, he sadly did not have enough energy to walk to our pond anymore.
Now that he is in remission, my dad is ready to get back out there and do the things he loves. We are going fishing for the first time in many years this Father’s Day. Now, more than any other time in my life, I will savor this moment with dad. It is the best memory of my childhood, and now it will be my favorite memory of our time together as adults.
Even though this is a fictional story, it is true to the lifestyle of many of us. If you want to create wonderful memories with your father at a new apartment community, visit ApartmentSearch.com and browse the extensive online database of apartment communities from all over the country. ApartmentSearch.com will even give you up to $200 in rewards when you tell the leasing staff at your new community that you found your home on ApartmentSearch.com.
Create lasting memories with your loved ones today!
