Balance In Life

I feel like I should give a brief explanation to readers on where I am coming from with this new blog. My entire life has been spent running around in the woods. From the time I was allowed to go outside unattended, I have roamed and explored to the point of getting lost a couple times. I was however always confident that no matter how lost I was, nothing really bad could happen to me. I would eventually find my way back home or at least somewhere near by. At the worst, someone would find me! Creeks fascinated me with all the animals and plants that live in and around them. I've always loved rocks, and in the south, rivers and creeks are where you can find the greatest variety. The woods, full of there ridges and valleys, bright green in the spring and colorful leaves in the fall were where I wanted to stay. Cane poles were the norm for me and my friends. Skinny dipping in the summer and sliding on the ice hoping not to break through in the winter were pleasures I dearly miss. As we grew older we graduated to BB guns and then pellet rifles followed by .22s and shotguns. My grandmother use to come stay with us in the summer time, and it was my goal in the winter to have the freezer as full of squirrels as I could so when she came she could cook them up. She loved them and with her touch at the stove, so did I. As I grew older I spent a tremendous amount of time in the Boy Scouts, and I was blessed to have leaders who took us camping every month. What I learned in the outdoors during those years will stay with me forever. One thing among many things I learned was to cook on open fires. When I left home and had to start cooking for myself, cooking on a stove was ridiculously easy. Its amazing how creative a cook can be when they are in a kitchen with regulated heat and not on the their knees next to an open campfire. Anyway, all of this time in the outdoors growing up could only translate to a love of the outdoors as an adult. Through the later part of high school and during college the ranging grew wider and the hunting and fishing only better. As an adult I have had a passion for hunting and a love for fishing. I've been fortunate to have friends during these years who feel the same. Through jobs and wives and kids to name a few we have all stayed true to what we loved and remained committed to the hunt. That was all true for me until my Mom died. It was a very difficult period that was the result of Alzheimer's and the years leading up to her death were difficult. A couple months and a long night of food poisoning after her death, I realized that I had been coping with Mom's situation with ridiculous amounts of Wild Turkey and bad living. Upon returning home from a trip to hell I decided to make a change. First I'd go from two liters of bourbon a week to one. Later that would change over to wine and a shitload of salads for dinner. The road to personal redemption was laid. Later in the spring of that year I saw that the local Alzheimer's Association was hosting their first annual sprint triathlon. I now had a goal. I started walking and then running. This lead to cycling and swimming with a goal of kicking this triathlon things ass. In the end I did it and had a great time. I never participated in another after that day. I had reached the goal and saw no need to carry it further. What came out of that experience though was a love for road cycling, and no I'm not talking about riding a motorcycle. I'm talking about 15 pounds of carbon fiber between my legs with 23mm tires under me and just killing myself to go faster. This became an uncontrollable passion that lead me to forsake damn near everything in my life short of my job. 5 years passed and every year my hunting buddies would text and call wanting to know where the hell I was at. Every season came to pass and I was a no show. No fishing, no dove, no bow hunting for deer or the sweet smell of gunpowder after pulling the trigger. This all worked well and good for me though. I had made new friends and was immersed in a cycling culture that was very positive and driven by ridiculous amounts of testosterone.. At 45 years old I am in better shape than I have been since I was in my early teens. I can get on a bike and eat the lunch of most anyone in my area, including college kids, and I love it. There is a very strong and positive feeling of accomplishment here. My wife now cycles as well, and she is getting stronger with every ride, but she's a badass to begin with. It's something that we love to do together. The epiphany  for change came at some point several months ago as I was flipping around the television. I came across a show on the Sportsman's channel and the host of the show was discussing how important it was to share his love for the sport with his kids. While watching I reflected on a tremendous number of experiences in my life, some of it discussed above. I thought of my friends and our experiences growing up. I thought of my oldest daughter and how proud I was of her when she killed her first deer. I realized that I had to get this back! I've got a 9 year old and a 6 year old who are just begging to go do stuff with me, and that bike does not facilitate that. A boat does, and a tree stand does and I've got to go back there and get it going again. Balance! I've got to find balance between my newest passion of cycling and the passion that brought me through a tremendous number of life's trials. I've got to get back to the woods and take my kids with me. So here I am. My first deer killed was with a bow so I decided to go back to where I started and take up bow hunting. As with most things, when I do them I go all out. I visited the local bow shop and purchased a Mathews Helium and decked it out. I bought a couple dozen arrows, and had my hunting arrows and broad heads professionally tuned. I have probably shot my targets close to 3000 times in the last few months. I've drawn my bow on two deer, a doe and an 8 point and I've double lunged both. This bow hunting is every bit the blast I remembered. The biggest difference is the change in technology from a Bear Flare II to a Mathews Helium.  80% let off is just crazy! Also, I had never hunted with a release; amazing. Anyway, this blog will hopefully provide some insight over the next few months and years into my rediscovery of myself and a window into my daughters introduction to the great outdoors. Thanks for reading!