Hook, line and sinker are words I have grown up with.For as long as I can remember, I have been Daddy's little fisherman.Every summer our family of five packed our lives into our maroon Volvostation wagon. We would drive two and a half-hours (two hours if Daddrove) to Woods Hole and catch a ferry to Martha's Vineyard. The ferrywas my dad's favorite part - he said it was a natural stress reliever. Ialways wondered how a ferry, a big metal boat, could relieve stress. Ididn't get it then, but now I'm beginning to understand.

My dad'sfather was a truck driver and part-time fisherman. He used to take mydad and his five sisters out on the weekends. As the only boy in thefamily, my dad had lots of "manly" responsibilities. My dadused to work for the trucking company my grandfather drove for. When hewasn't working, he was fishing, cleaning the boat or gutting fish.That's how my dad grew up. He would work, which was not fun, then hewould fish on the ocean with his dad, which was fun. After his fatherdied my dad said he would go fishing and remember. I guess he meant hewould remember his dad.

The ferry ride is an element of the seaand that's what relaxes my dad. When I was little he would take me withmy two younger siblings to a beach in some little corner of Martha'sVineyard. There he would go surfcasting until we could no longer see thesun above the water. I couldn't understand how it could keep hisattention all day; I got bored after 20 minutes. As I got older Ilearned to pretend I was enjoying it. Although I was convinced I didn'tlike to fish, I would catch myself having fun or learning something new.When I was about 10 I gave in and really liked it. I started asking somany questions my dad would ask if I wanted something to eat just so Iwould have something in my mouth. I started to get "the feel."My dad said "the feel" is when you sense there is a fish rightunder your line before it even decides it is going to bite. As I caughtmore and more fish my dad taught me how to filet them. Filet, he toldme, was just a nice word for gutting. I thought gutting a fish was themost awesome thing in the whole world; I loved doing it. I'm not surewhy, since it is kind of gross, but I loved it.

Fishing was partof my dad's life growing up, and in a way he has made it a part of mine,too. I still don't understand all the reasons he loves it so much, buthe makes a conscious effort to incorporate it into our lives. It's kindof cool that my dad is 40, but we still have something we can relate toand talk about.