PROFOUND GLORY
by Robb Kuchenoff (written June, 2006)

All of us are seeking profound glory in whatever God-given talent that we are bestowed. I, personally, have an affinity for fishing. That is one of my few blessed talents. Recently, I took my oldest daughter (8years old) on a fishing trip to the Kenai ferry crossing by the Russian River. My excuse to migrate from our home in Wasilla in the middle of the week was that we could harvest a double limit each and thus; replenish our freezer's stock of salmon that we need. Sure enough, my wife bit; hook, line and sinker. I was so amazed at my conquest that I loaded our car in a complete fog, not believing my luck. At that moment I didn't realize that my wife understood my need to provide, my addiction to fishing and most importantly; the bonding that my daughter and I so desperately needed.

We run a daycare out of our home. My wife technically works over 90 hours a week. Our children, as well as ourselves, have made sacrifices beyond our immediate notice that has impacted our family as a whole. We're open seven days a week with few holidays and weeks of advance notice if we plan to change our scheduled hours of operation. She knew that we both needed to go on an overnight fishing adventure. My daughter was so excited at the notion that she got to spend one-on-one time with her father that she immediately morphed into her mother; planning and scheming for every type of emergency and catastrophe possible. She did such a fine job of imitating her mom that I almost mistook her for the real deal whom ended up showing her how a professional worry-wart gets the job done. My wife, upon our cordial kiss goodbye, stuffed a Ziploc bag in my shirt pocket that contained her daughter's health care card and mine and gently whispered, "just in case..." Not confidence inspiring but I'm used to the just in case's.

On the way down Turnagain Arm, we saw the tourist magnets we Alaskan's call Dall Sheep and as luck would have it, I had my digital camera with me. Time to play tourist and get some cool pictures for the scrap book crazed females that my wife and mother-in-law are. If I didn't stop, my daughter would have spoke of the really cool sheep that were on the road and the pictures everyone else was taking and then my scantily follicled scalp would be removed forcibly in my sleep.

After some good pictures and great video, we continued our journey. Singing songs, telling 2nd grade jokes (honestly, there are some really funny ones!), listening to the radio and answering a barrage of questions that either got answered with, "just because" or "I'm really not sure, that's a good question for your mother.", we finally arrived at the Kenai/Russian River ferry crossing.

With only a few minutes to spare, we grabbed our fishing poles and sleeping bags and stood first in line for what was about to be the best night that we've ever spent together. Upon sitting down in the boat she mentioned that she was a little scared and I mustered every fatherly assurance I could to ease her fears and told her that she should sing the Mary Poppins song and she'd never get passed the "s" word and we'd be done. To my surprise, she recited "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" about 10 times before they even finished the speech about staying seated until we come to a stop. (For you spell check geeks, I got that right on the first try).

After our crossing we rigged up and got to it right away. The competition wasn't near as fierce as it was on the previous Sunday, Father's Day, where my father-in-law and I came close to the fisherman's surgery of an "add a hook to me". She quickly hooked a sockeye in the dim light of the summer solstice and as I scrambled for the digital camera and switched it to "video mode" I was viewing my oldest daughter in a perspective that seemed surreal. It was not too long ago that I was changing her diapers, feeding her and teaching her how to walk, run and then ride a bike. Now here she is, hollering like her old man with glee that "it's hooked in the mouth!"

Here we were in the middle of God's creation enjoying nature and each other... I was grateful in ways that I can't even begin to explain. She would give way to rest soon after catching her limit two minutes before midnight. She wrapped herself in her brand new sleeping bag and laid on the ground due to the no tents and camping rule of the ferry crossing. She complained of being cold, so I wrapped her up in my sleeping bag on the outside of hers and the cute, content curves of her smile let me know that she was happy where she was and could now sleep. I didn't sleep that night. I fished for a while but I sat next to her on our backpack and almost nodded off a few times. When I woke her up at six am and told her that she can fish some more before heading home, she wasted no time in picking up where she left off with one hookup, land and release after the next. I knew at that point that my little girl with the sippy cups had just ascended one more rung on the grown up ladder and that things were going to be quite different from now on.

All in all, I'm thankful. We were blessed with a bounty of salmon and at the same time a bonding that neither of us will ever stop talking about or forget. My daughter saw me as a hero and I saw her in the same light. She slept most of the way home. Periodically waking and talking about the great fish that she caught and thanked me more times than I can count. The profound glory I've often sought with fishing by catching a trophy was replaced with a profound appreciation for my daughter's admiration. I'll take that any day over a trophy.

GammaDaddy