Grant has always been a ‘free spirit’

I always like to brag about my kids and grandkids, and in this case, it is my youngest grandson, Grant. He went to Wisconsin River Falls and graduated with a degree in Animal Science. He also earned a degree in Outdoors Management. He did an internship in the state of Main guiding youth on outdoors trips, hiking, camping, rock climbing and kayaking.

 

This internship helped him get a job working for Community Education in Albert Lea. This winter he applied for an opening for an assistant activity director at St. Olaf College and after a couple of interviews, he was offered the job. He is now commuting between home and Northfield and is hoping to find an apartment in Northfield sometime in the spring.

 

Whenever we went to the cabin and Grant was along, he would go fishing with us. One time, I had given him one of my lures to use. It was a new one that I had never used. Of course, having never used the lure, I was hoping he would at least catch one. It wasn’t long before Grant started catching one fish after another with that lure. The cool thing about it is that I was glad that he was catching fish, even though he was out-fishing old Grandpa.

 

Grant has always been sort of a “free spirit,” so when he worked at the Rock wall for Community Ed, he felt the calling to do something a little more challenging. He would go to Duluth ice wall climbing with some of his classmates from college. They also went rock climbing in Colorado a couple of times, and also rock climbing in Missouri and around Duluth. He has also gone camping with some friends in the Boundary Waters.

 

Now in my younger years, I liked living a little bit on the edge, but heights were never my thing. In the service you had no choice, and when given a choice, I avoided it unless it was to shingle my house or help someone else shingle theirs.

 

I am proud of what all of my grandsons have accomplished, and Grant seems to be the most adventurous of them all. One time I was babysitting him when he was about five years old. He came over to me while I was sitting on the couch. He sat down next to me, looked up at me and said, “You know grandpa, I’ve been thinking, I maybe shouldn’t start school until I am about ten.” I did not want to laugh because he was so serious, but I did chuckle all the way home.

 

Until next time: I am getting anxious to do a little fishing. It seems that when we have a nice day, it comes with a mini hurricane. I do hope that Mother Nature will soon finish messing with us. I have been daydreaming from time-to-time about sitting in my boat, casting towards the lakeshore. I do not believe that I have caught that fish in my daydream yet, but that might be what keeps me coming back for more.

 

Please show your support for our troops who are deployed. These service men and women are making that sacrifice, so that we may have the many freedoms that we enjoy today.