The Cat Rock

West Virginia ~ The Greenbrier River, Seebert
Originally uploaded by JustMeSKJ ~ Postcards

This is a picture of the river I grew up on(click on picture to make larger). The place I spent most of my childhood. My Dad taught me everything there is to know about fishing and I put it to good use every summer. If I wasn't fishing on it I was swimming in it.

There is one special place in Seebert along the river called the "cat rock" this special place was where I spent most of my childhood. It had a rock ledge that protruded from the river bank and was perfect for laying in the sun catching a nap while waiting for the fish to bite. Not to mention it was a great place to catch catfish at night!

I will never forget the day of my Moms funeral. You see funerals in a small town are probably a lot different than in a city. In a small town, when someone dies the whole community usually comes out to pay their respect; a funeral dinner is then put together by the ladies of the community and they are waiting to serve the family and friends after the funeral service. So funeral gatherings tend to be quite large in number. After my Moms funeral everyone that had attended the funeral gathered at Dads house to eat dinner. Now believe it or not I get nervous around crowds( that is a gene I inherited from my dad) After greeting and hugging everyone the crowds were starting to get to me. I looked at Dad and knew they were getting to him too, not to mention the grief that the family was going through over my Mom. But my Dad is a respectable country man and continued to meet and greet - not me - I'm not that mature, I wanted to curl up in a ball and be left alone. I caught my Dads eye and told him I had to get out of there for a while to get some fresh air. He looked at me and smiled, leaned down and whispered in my ear " there's a beer in the fridge - I won't tell anyone where you are" Dad and I have a relationship that we understand each other. We are a lot alike and think alike in so many ways. He knew exactly where I was going and why I was going there.

After I got to the cat rock and got my crying out I heard rustling in the grass behind me. Thane had knew where I had gone and had come there to comfort me. We sat there and talked and sometimes just sat there saying nothing, watching the water flow by.

A few days later I went down to visit Dad by myself and we ended up walking around the yard down the road to the old familiar path across the old railroad tracks and down the well worn path to- you guessed it - the cat rock. We sat down at the rock and talked for a long time and like me and Thane - sometimes we just sat there and said nothing. I realized that day how much me and Dad are alike. I get my courage, strength, wisdom and straight shooter attitude from him. It runs deep in our veins, the family bond and values that one day my boys will realize that is in their veins as well.

**Well this started out as a post about the river and the cat rock. I don't know how it ended up with me pouring my heart out! Just keeping it real here, If you have read my blog for anytime now you will know that my Dad is my hero- I guess it shows huh??