Do I stop and pick it up or just keep running? I was going as fast as I could down the back side of the dam; pole in one hand and the tackle box in the other. My legs couldn’t keep up with the momentum of my body on that steep of a slope. Literally head over heels for a few rotations, for which even a fit 15 year old body would feel the next day. The lures, bobbers, hooks, weights, pliers, extra line and everything were scattered everywhere.

But we had to run. We shouldn’t have been on that side of the tracks. The Zimmerman’s pond just wasn’t enough. The temptation got me. The police car scared me. The tackle box taught me. It taught me that there are far more important things than the stuff I have. It was so easy to leave that behind compared to the consequences. I ran and never looked back. I never even went back later to get it.

When our family fell down the hill we dropped a lot of things. Things we may never go back to get. Activities we were involved in. Hobbies we had. Patterns of spending our time. Scattered everywhere. While we miss it, the memories will have to do cause we’re likely not going back. Now we are picking up new things. Things that take little planning and motivation. Things that we can easily do together. Things that don’t take time away from home.

We may wander back at some point to get some of that stuff. But we realized it was not those things that defined us and that was a great lesson. Yet another good thing that cancer has done for us.