November 15th, 2028

Today was the opening day of deer season in Southern NY. I look forward to this day all year as it is a day when I can go sit in the woods, watch the sun come up, enjoy nature, and if I'm lucky, put some venison in the freezer. This year my middle son, Jacob, wanted to come along. Actually, all 3 boys wanted to come but it was Jake's turn to spend some "special time" with Dad, so off we went. I was a little bit hesitant at first, because if you've spent any time at all with a 10 year old, you'll know that they don't generally have much of an attention span. I thought I'd be constantly telling Jake to sit still, be quiet, only 15 more minutes and we'll leave, etc. I was completely wrong. We sat in the rain for almost 3 hours, waiting for a deer that we wanted to shoot. Eventually, I was the one who suggested we go back to the house to dry off and try to warm up. Jacob would have remained sitting in the rain all day if I'd let him. After a cup of coffee and a snack, we decided to head back out to the tree stand and see if we'd have any better luck. The rain had let up a bit, but I was not feeling very good about our chances. Well, we got to the stand, climbed up, and before I even had a chance to sit down, Jacob was whispering "Dad, Dad, there's a buck!". I turned around to see a deer, not 30 yards away, looking straight at us. I unslung my rifle, took aim, and shot. The deer took a few steps, and then fell dead. My kids know where a hamburger comes from, and understand that hunting is one of the ways we feed our family. They know that a gun is a tool that can be used to good and bad. They know that when something is shot, chances are good that it will die very soon. All of these thoughts were going through my mind in the moments after I watched the deer fall. "Good learning experience". "Respect wildlife even as we kill it". "The Lord provides". All of this fled my mind when my boy turned to me and gave me a hug that I will remember until the day I die. It's about all of those thoughts that I was having, but today was also about so much more.

I titled this blog post November 15th, 2028. My son will be 30 years old then. Most likely he will be busy with a career, a family, a life of his own. I will be 59 years old, and I may be wishing for just one more hunt with my kids. Just one more time to be together when it's just us. Well, today I got that wish, even if it's 20 years before I make it.