• Wes Bloomquist •
• Originally published January 9, 2009 at 5:04 p.m., updated January 9, 2009 at 5:04 p.m.

"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6

Today, I am going to write my first letter to my first great grandson, and I think you might like reading it. It will not be like most great-grandmothers write, but I'm not like most grandmothers, so he had better get used to it.

Dear great-grandson, Joseph,

You are way off across my ocean in England, now, and too little to come see me, but you will know me instinctively because I will be the only great-grandmother in the airport with a blue fish hat on yelling, "I've got a good one. Bring the net because it is really mine!"

I know you will be wearing little pampers, but that won't matter because it is your genes to match mine and they are made for fishing.

I want to make some promises to you that you can depend on. I love God, love teaching and love fishing, so these are some the things I promise I will teach you.

1. Always drag your feet when walking in the sea. Shells, stingrays and rocks will get you if you don't.

2. Always eat cheese sandwiches at the beach because they don't smell like the bait or fish, and always hold the sandwich by one corner. It is done this way so that it is the only part that stinks, and you can throw it up to the seagulls when you finish the rest of it.

3. Oh, very important, Joseph, when you look up to throw the sandwich handle, do not open your mouth. Seagulls sometimes show their thankfulness by "messing" in it. I bet you will never do it twice, great grand kid.

4. I want to teach you about pier pressure. Never stand behind a fisherman because you may be the biggest thing he catches and you may learn language that God forbids. How do you like having a religious teacher, fishing great-grandma? I can do them all in one sentence.

5. Always leave the beach better than you found it and that goes for the rest of the world, too. My world is better because you have entered it and made me Gran Granny and Gran Granny will tie you to the pier with a stringer, just as she was, until you are big enough to cast over the top rail. That day will come sooner than either of us think.

Dear Lord, if I cross over to the other shore called Heaven before I get a chance to teach Joseph all these important things and then some, I know his mother, Marilyn Elaine, can teach them to him. After all, it is all in the genes and tie-dyed fishing shirts and blue fish hats. Love and prayers, Gran Granny

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