Fishing with Grandpa

My father died of lung cancer in February 2001. He had smoked for an unbelievable amount of time, like 40 years or more. Eric, Olivia and I went to visit him the January before he died. He was doing ok when we arrived but by the end of the trip he was back in the hospital. I am pretty sure we wore him out. Taking him out for drives and having him play with Olivia. I drove him to the hospital for the last time. We would leave the next day for Durham only to return maybe two weeks later or less for his funeral.
Olivia was 7 months old when we visited. We have a picture of her sitting on my father’s lap. I think we have some video of this as well. He was rocking her in the chair and humming a very low, methodical hum to put her to sleep. He had done this with all of his grandchildren. Olivia would be the last. There is a balloon next to the chair he is sitting in with Olivia. Occasionally Olivia will ask about her Grandpa in heaven. She knows that he is the one in the picture with her as a baby and she will often say –“I played with that balloon right?” “Yes” I will say and she will say “I remember that… it was fun.” Then she will say “But he died didn’t he?” “Yes he did” and I will explain that before he died, as we were leaving for the hospital, “he scooped you up into his arms and told you he loved you. I am pretty sure he called you doll or little one.” Olivia will nod in agreement. Something unusual for Olivia because she loves to point out that I am wrong about most things.
This Sunday at church she made a bookmark. She was all excited about it and showed me the picture she had drawn on it. “It is a picture of me and grandpa fishing” she explained. And it was. To make sure it was dad I asked her if it was Grandpa Rice and she said “No it is the Grandpa in the picture with the balloon… the one that died”. I should have taken a picture of it so you could see it as well but I sent the bookmark to my mom for Valentines Day. The amazing thing is that I do not think we have told her that my dad liked to fish but he did. He loved fishing and went as often as he could. Fishing on the Mississippi was a big part of his life. But I could be wrong. Not about the fishing but Eric may have told her about dad liking to fish. She fishes every year at the fair to win a prize (she catches plastic sea creatures with at plastic pole from a plastic pool) and he could have told her that fishing was Grandpa Wessels’ favorite thing to do. He may have told her to cast the line out like Grandpa. I don’t know. I could ask him but I prefer to think that somehow Olivia just has a special bond with dad and she just knows that he liked to fish.
Maybe she remembers being in the womb when I went fishing with dad for the last time. Dad and mom, Tammy and Renae all traveled out to NC and we went fishing on my friend’s father’s private pond. We had a great time. It brought back memories of fishing with dad at the lock and dam near Fulton. It was the same visit that we told them that we were pregnant. Maybe Olivia remembers that fishing trip from the womb. I doubt it but I like to think it anyhow.