Special Occasions are...........Special

 Every now and then there's something that comes along that just makes what could generally be a regular ole day, different.  Now I don't mean different in any sort of way that would take away from that regular ole day, but something that just adds a little flavor to the day in way that settles into yer mind and stays there.  You know what I mean?  Sure you do and you have em too, you have those Special Occasions come along in your life that do funny things to ya.  They make you smile big ole grins from ear to ear.  These occasions can give ya a big ole lump in yer throat and even result in an alligator tear runnin' down yer cheek.  The best part of these Special Occasions is that they tend ta relive themselves in yer mind now and again and remind ya of just how special a day that Special Occasion was.

This all brings me to today, yep today is a Special Occasion.  You see, after 13 long years of headin' to school every day, it comes to a bit of a conclusion today.  Spencer, my Stepson, graduates from High School today.  See, here's the thing about Stepkids, they're not yer children because they were born to ya, these critters are your children because you chose em.  Heck, the way I figure it, if'n I hadn't come to love em, I likely wouldn't have chose their mother either.  They come as a package deal and a darn good fringe benefit of marryin' their mother.

Back to that Special Occasion.  This one only happens once, you only get to graduate from High School one time, and the way I see it, if its a one time thing, it's bound to be pretty special.  I gotta be honest, there's been a time or two, well maybe three, that I wasn't so certain that this day was coming, at least not this year anyway.  Spence, he's had his educational moments, shall we say, but I gotta tip my hat to the boy cause when he needed to get the job done, he knuckled down, busted his tail and pulled through.  To that I say Bravo Spencer!

He's gonna walk down that aisle today and across that stage and shake a hand or two, receive his diploma, move his tassle from one side to the other and Shazam!, he'll be officially a graduate.  People usually figure this is the end ta somethin', but it's more of a beginnin'.  Shoot, he's only begun livin' and I'm all kinds of excited and apprehensive at the same time to see where this ole world is gonna take him.  Oh, he's got plans.  He's got a job all lined out and he knows where he's gonna go to college and he even knows what he wants to study.  Shoot there's a bunch of folks twice his age that still don't have a clue as ta where their a goin' or what their a doin'.  Seriously now, you know some of these folks, heck you may even be one of em.  I'm glad Spence has a plan, but ya know what, I know this young fella well enough to truly believe that whereever he winds up and whatever he ends up a doin', he'll be successful.  Oh, he may never be rich er famous, but I'll tell ya, he'll always have a plan, and if he hasn't yet achieved his goal, I know he'll be workin' on how ta git himself there.

Ya know, when I think of Spencer, I can't help but be reminded of some other Special Occasions.  Some of em may only be special to me and hopefully Spence as well.  I think of the first time he went to Elk Camp with me.  Now that was a Special Occasion for sure.  Poor guy, he didn't yet have his hunter's safety card, so he couldn't actually hunt, but he took every step I did.  He went up the mountain trails and down into the canyons and he was wide eyed and excited to just be there.  Heck, he even carried a chair with him for me to sit on.  Now before ya start thinkin' that this is a tad bit crazy, let me explain about this chair.  It's a little tripod stool that folds up to about 16" long and 4" around and weighs less than 2 pounds.  But, he did get my buddy Randy to say, "for cryin' out loud Spencer, tell him to carry his own chair".

Another Special Occasion was goin' pheasant & chucker huntin' at Canyon Creek.  Randy had given me a shotgun, meant to be passed on to one of the boys that decided they wanted to be a hunter, and doggone it, Spence surely fits the bill.  We had been hangin' out around the shelter there at Canyon Creek a waiting for ole Bob let us know that the birds were ready for us head out and find em.  Well here came Bob on his 4-wheeler and we were off to another adventure.  We hadn't gone more than a few hundred yards when Rudy the Setter went on point.  We let Spence know that the first bird was his and he snuck up there and Indie the Lab flushed out a Chucker.  Ole Spencer pulls up, and like he'd been doin' it for years, he knocks down the first bird of the day and the first bird of his huntin' career.  Yes, this is where I got that big ole grin goin' from ear to ear.  Proud, darn right I was proud.

Just this last Fall, Spencer and I headed to NE Oregon to get us a Muley Buck.  We camped in the same meadow we had camped in a few years earlier at Elk Camp and we pitched the wall tent and had us a darn nice set up.  This was another pretty Special Occasion, not because we came across a dandy buck or two and were eatin' venison steaks for dinner, cause that just didn't happen.  It was special because I got to spend that whole hunt with a fine young man that I am just so proud to know.  You see, neither one of us had our buddies along, and his mother wasn't along either.  It was just the two of us, workin' together, laughin' together, plannin' together and just bein' together.  Many of ya out there may not count a deer hunt without deer on the meat pole as a very special time, but we weigh it a little different.  A Special Occasion can be special for reasons that some folks just may not understand, but I believe we do.

I could tell other stories about deep sea fishin', Turkey, Elk and other camps and vacations, but I think you get the gist of what I'm tryin' to say here.  And to Spencer, thank you so much for these Special Occasions and for what I hope will be many Special Occasions to come.  I'm darn proud to be your Stepdad and I'm darn proud of you!