the thread and post to tie my great friend ZOOKER

[bamabassman]

ok gang, i know i have not been posting as much as usual lately.


there are a few reasons (yes, i have had concerns) for not doing this TIEING post. i, as ya'll know have started a new job and that is taking up a LOT of my time, 10 hr days doesn't leave much time to do "home chores". AND...we are still fighting the cancer with my sister in law GINGER SANDERS.

having lost ZOOKER to cancer, then having my wifes sister going through it now i have come to some VERY sobering and ENLIGHTENING things. life is not fair folks, it owes you NOTHING. so don't sweat the small things if oyu can. take a step back, review, and give pause. and i mean PAUSE and THINK about what is bothering oyu. i know this is extremily hard to do a lot of times. trust me i know. but is it REALLY worth oyu losing oyur cool over? i may not be making sense to some of you, but others understand me. somehow...they do.

now i ain't gonna be this serious, brooding faced fella. i am jsut asking for each and every one of you to TRULY think aobut where you are in life and where you want to be when it is over with. we will never do ALL the things we wanted to do gang. it'll never happen, i'm sorry to have to tell oyu that,lol.

but TRY to do the SMALL things. the things that matter are often the small things. like...for no reason at all....out of the blue....these types of things. a little THANK you to your wife, brother, sister, anyone in oyur family. say thank you for spending time with me today, if only for 5 mins. you never know that those 5 mins may very well be the last time you will ever see them again.

now to talk about ginger, or GIN as we call her. she has her final chemo treatment, then radiation comes next. she is still upbeat and is fighting it all the way gang. i admire her so much as i did ZOOKER. never give up, never say die. she is truly an inspiration. her and lisa are closer now than any 2 sisters could ever be. even if they are 2 1/2 hrs part by car. and i am doing everthing i can so that they can continue to fight this together. GIN says ot "be sure to thank oyur friends for me john." "the prayers help me on my bad days, jsut knowing someone i never laid eyes on are with me in praer...helps." her words gang. and i can't thank ya'll enough myself.

i have tried to remember every word ol zooker said to me when he came all the way down here to see lisa and i. and maybe i have blocked it out for some reason gang. i remember us going to guntersville lake. he loved it. couldn't believe all the milfoil and grass there was. loved it alot. i do remember him saying he wished he had came sooner. he didnt' get a nibble on the lake. but i blamed it on his host,lol. he said "no, i just ain't ever fished THIS much grass before." then the next day we hit weiss lake. zooker ties on a crankbait right off the bat. looks over to the bank and says,"mmmmm structure." makes a cast, cranks it maybe 3 times and WHAM. catches a 3 pounder. lipsit and looks at me and says, "no fish huh?" then he laughs as he is shaking his head. yes i laughed too. i never got a bite that day. he got hit a few more times but didn't land anymore. i think it ws he was feeling so bd as the heat of the day got to him.

i miss that big ol bull gang. i really do. thining of kentucky lake, all the phone calls and me laughing my arse off after having a bad day at work. zooekr's calls and lisa and this site has truly helped me over the last 6 yrs while i was at the JOB FROM HE77!

so i'll close this out asking for each of you to give a moment of thought and prayer not only for zooker and ginger.......but also for everyone else who has fought and is still fighting cancer in one form or another.

and think aobut calling someone oyu haven't talked ot in a while and jsut say "hey, i was thiniing aobut oyu and wanted to see how oyu are. let's visit soon." and follow through. kiss oyur family tonight gang, EVERY MEMBER. tell them oyu love them.

i ain't skeered to say it either, I LOVE OYU NUTTY FOLKS. ALL OF YOU. thank oyu for making my life easier to go through and please continue to do so.

GOD BLESS ALL OF OYU.

[nobass]

nice post well said i am glad it was you and not someone eles to tie . zooker up there smilelmg down on you. take care of yourself i am proud to know you and call oyu friend

[WatterBoy]

Awesome post, bama, just awesome. Glad to have you in my circle of friends also!

[woody]

John, I can hear you"loud and clear." Now it is up to all us that have been listening to give answer.


Turn up you sound and listen.
http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/1Cor.13


1 Corinthians 13

New International Version (NIV)

1 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

[keithdog]

Thanks John for the well thought out and heart touching post. The things you mentioned are so important in the grand scheme of things. You so right about the small things. And while you may not remember everything Zooker said, you remember the important things. Things happen every day in life that cause us to get angry, but then stepping back and looking at what some people are trying to deal with, like cancer, and we realize we havn't got it so bad after all. It's the folks in our lives that we love that carry us and make our lives worthwhile. You and Lisa mean so much to me. I love ya both. And I'll continue to keep you two and Gin in my prayers.

[nofearengineer]

Another classic Bama post. Yes John, it is definitely good to stop once in a while and think about what is really important and what you are really trying to accomplish. It is far too easy to lose sight of the big picture and whammo, sickness or death comes along and reminds us.

[Bubba_Bruiser]

2 thumbs up Bama!

[bamabassman]

now to move FORWARD. i have to say THANK OYU ALL. i have dwelled on this for quiet some time. trying to type words that meant more of what i feel than as a perosn than as just some fella on a fishing site. again i MUST say that you guys are the best i have EVER come across.

it is hard ot "figure out" a person through the internet, but we all seem to know each other very well. our pastime (fishing) is only part of our lives. but the companionship we share as FRIENDS and BROTHERS. goes deeper i think.we were all raised in different places and different ways. we have different political views as well as our beliefs in faith.

BUT....we RESPECT each other for the differences and THAT is what brings us closer as FRIENDS and BROTHERS. I CONSIDER EACH OF OYU MY BROTHER.

and that is what i wanted to bring out in this thread.

again, i am HUMBLED by you guys and oyur love for me, lisa and zooker, ginger and every one else we have all prayed for. (i am shaking as i type this gang for real, had ot go back to correct some spelling too, hahaha)

but i truly do thank you all for being in MY life today. and hopefully for the REST of my life. i also MUST thank KEVIN for developing this site so that we have a channel to comunicate. without kevin doing this as a 13 yr old, it would not have been possible. so THANK OYU ONCE AGAIN KEVIN!

NOW, I AM GOING TO GO BACK TO BEING THE CRAZY OL BAMA OYU ALL LOVE TO JOKE WITH.
move FORWARD FOLKS. stop and smell the roses once in a while. hold your head up proudly. WE ARE BROTHERS! AND SISTERS TOO. (CAN'T LEAVE OUT THE LADIES, WITHOUT THEM WERE WOULD WE BE? HAHAHA)

FISH ON!!!

[coldbasser]

The gift of a gift is in the giving and the best gifts, and giving is from the heart, by finding this "Bass Forum" I found a great big gift.
Thank You

[Jrob78]

Thanks for taking the time to write this John. It would do us all a lot of good always remind ourselves about what's important in our lives. It isn't money, it isn't the bad day we might have had, it isn't even fishing. The truly important things are the people and the relationships in our lives. Thank you for reminding us of that. This site is a better place because you're a part of it.

[Bassboss]

Thanks John.. very good meaningful post. I hear ya loud 'n' clear.