I am a fortunate man

A few days ago a small piece on my fly rod came apart.  This caused me to look at the rod and think about all the good times I have had with the rod. The reel has an interesting story as well.  A little over two years ago my wife, both kids and I moved to Tulsa from Atlanta.  We had decided that we wanted to reinvent ourselves and move to a place where we had a better chance of giving our kids more opportunity.   Well, we weren’t here more than a week or two when someone went through my car and swiped my fly reel.   I had left it in the glove box and not locked the doors of the car.  Both my wife and I came out here with out jobs and we were on a pretty tight budget.   I was not in a position to purchase a new reel.  The next day I was talking to Dave, one of my best friends in the world who lives in Brooklyn, New York and telling him about the theft.

I think it was about a month later this fly reel comes in the mail from Dave.  Apparently Dave and his at the time girl friend, now his wife, were walking through their neighborhood in Brooklyn and he spotted a fly fishing outfit that was being thrown in the trash. 

Me (left) and Dave (right) at his wedding in Brooklyn.  Check out the flies instead of boutonnieres.

 He said that the whole thing was just terribly dirty and looked like it should be tossed, but he fished the reel out of the trash and took it home.  Once home, he cleaned it up and fixed a few things on it and bingo!!  He sent it to me.  I was so surprised and happy.   Dave’s gift is his gift giving.  This guy will literally spend his lunch money on a gift for someone and not expect anything in exchange.  Between fishing flies, and my fly rod and reel,  I feel like one fortunate man.