Five A.M. I was softly woken up by a familiar hand on shoulder and the faint smell of coffee on his breath.

“We better get going if we want to catch the big ones,” Papa said as he opened my curtains. Joel was already awake at the kitchen table eating his cereal. I put on my black shorts and blue t-shirt and walked into the living room. Papa proceeded to tell me to throw on a sweatshirt.

“It's cold outside right now, especially on the water,” He said to me as he pushed his favorite winter hat on top of my head. Once Papa, Joel, and I got into the truck we headed to the gas station. We got the worms then headed to the river behind the fire station. I got out of the car to the sound of the river flowing and the wind blowing through the trees. My eyes were still heavy from being so tired. I got my pink, barbie fishing pole out of the trunk along with my pink camouflage tackle box. Papa and Joel were about thirty yards ahead of me, I don’t know how they got so far ahead of me.

“SLOW DOWN!,” I yelled while running trying to catch up with them.

“No yelling. You will scare all the fish away if you do that again,” Joel said sharply when he jerked his head around to look at me. We finally got to our “special” spot Papa always talks about. It wasn’t special then, it is now. Once I sat down I noticed the sun rising just over the trees, the reds and oranges gave me a sense of warmth. I could feel frigidness of the water against my already rosey cheeks. I knew the water was cold enough to freeze but it wasn't time yet. I gazed at the vibrant leaves as they fell from the treetops into the brisk water below me. Papa came over to me while I was getting situated.

“I’m going to show you how to put a worm on the hook so you can do it by yourself from now on,” Papa said as he walked over to get the container of worms. I didn’t really understand why I needed to know how to do it by myself. Once my worm was on my hook I cast the line into the water and waited patiently for a bite.

“I am so bored Papa, can we leave yet?” I said after just shy of an hour.

“A real fisherman never leaves his post,” Papa said as he walked over to where I was sitting, “I promise you if you sit here just a little bit longer you will catch a fish.” I don’t know how he could have promised something like that, but he did. Not even ten minutes later I felt a jolt of my line.

“I have one! I have one!” I yelled as I rose to my feet and began to look around for help. This fish was especially heavy because it was so early in the morning. I saw Papa slowly making his way over to me.

“Papa please help this fish is extremely heavy,” I said as I slowly reeled in the monster.

“If you want to be a real fisherman you have to reel it in all by yourself,” he said as he sat there still. I reeled and reeled, my arms began to feel like jello. I felt like giving up but I wanted to make Papa proud. I used all the strength I had left and pulled the fish out of the water.

“I am so proud of you Madison,” He said as he helped me get the fish off the hook. I was so overwhelmed with emotions; happy, tired, proud. After taking a picture with the fish I softly placed it back into the river.

Almost ten years after Papa has gone, I’ve realized why he wanted to teach me how to catch a fish by myself. Around the time of this event, Papa was just starting to get sick. He told my grandma he wanted to live long enough to make an impact on his grandkids lives. By catching that one fish, I’ve later realized how meaningful that trip was. Papa was teaching me how to be on my own. He was teaching me to be strong without him because he knew he wasn’t going to be here forever. He was teaching me how to be independent. How to live life without him. I was too young to understand his intent, but now that I am older and have lived without him physically here with me I realize why he made me reel that fish in. Sometimes little things make the biggest impact.