A fishing guide isn't in it for the money. A daily guide fee normally covers expenses and should leave enough to live for a day or two-just enough to keep us in the business. There's something bigger that compels us to do what we do.

So what drives a person to spend hours preparing equipment and driving hundreds of miles to sleep in a reclined truck seat in order to make the early morning rendezvous with a group of eager anglers? I think the answer lies in that word "eager." I get to share the day with people on their day off and doing what they love. I get to see the best side of folks.

My 60th birthday is rapidly approaching and I don't necessarily like all the emotions that are springing like weeds in the garden of my life. Arthritis steals from my youthful gusto. Covid took much of my stamina. Indifference slowly sneaks in and tries to convince me that a rocking chair would be easier. I find it harder every year to find enthusiasm.

But there is still something that never fails to get my heart pumping. My first glimpse of dark blue water nestled between the grass-covered dunes after a long absence wakens my slumbering adrenal gland. My ears perk up when I park the truck and open the door to the sound of bull frogs bellowing in the cattails. Aquatic aromas fill my nostrils, sending a loud signal to my brain that something wonderful is about to happen. Suddenly, I'm seventeen years old again, with that mysterious substance flowing through my blood that makes all the aches and pains vanish.

For me it's fishing. You might prefer golf, biking or photography. It doesn't really matter what gets your blood flowing as long as it's healthy. I still remember the words of a college professor who said, "We do the same things when we're old that we did when we were young, just a lot more of it." This statement holds true only if we make the choice to keep at it.

Our bodies are going to age regardless of all the ways we try to prevent it. Our attitude in the latter part our lives makes the difference between living life to its fullest and giving in to the rocking chair. A fellow that I took fishing a few years ago whose name I've forgotten served as an inspiration to me. He came to the United States from his homeland of Greece as a penniless teenager. Speaking very little English, he enlisted in the Army and fought in Korea. He went on to become a chef, living out his life in Nebraska. He still worked full time at age 80 and seemed fit as a man twenty years younger.