Happy Mother’s Day.
Much of what we enjoy in the outdoors is directly related to our mothers, maybe more than any of us know.
Statistics abound tracking the dramatic decline in our country’s number of hunters to the rapid increase of single-parent families.
Yes, there are other factors, like correlating the movement from a rural to an urban society and decreasing open-land space that limits hunting opportunity, but increasing single-parent stats stand out as if they were printed in red.
OK, so some of you will respond that the decline is because there’s no “man in the house” to get the last two generations of youngsters outdoors, or that moms working to support a household simply don’t have the time, energy, means, or the opportunity to fill in for the absent parent. That’s true.
Yet when you think about where you are today, that hundreds of thousands across Louisiana will go fishing in the next weeks and months, and tens of thousands will head to fields, forests, swamps and marshes for the hunting seasons, and trace your first fishing/hunting experience to the source, you will find your mother had a hand in making it something you’ve wanted to do for years.
That’s why it’s important to make sure to thank your mom for her gushing praise when you presented her with that stringer of bluegill, more than likely better suited for an aquarium than frying pan, and she furnished a meal. Or was it squirrel, rabbit, or bird?
It didn’t matter to your mom: What mattered was that it was you, not the fish nor the game.
For today’s single-parent moms, there are mentoring programs to get your children into the outdoors, and these programs take your children far beyond hooks and bullets into the world of our environment and resources conservation.
Today, if you mom is with you, thank her for what she’s done. If not, then remember her for what she did.
And to my wife Cheryl and mother-in-law Carolyn Talbot, Happy Mother’s Day. For my mom, I hope she’s in a place where she is without the pain of her last years and that her soul is rested.
Family and friends gathered Saturday at St. Aloysius Catholic Church to pay respects and to lay Mrs. Jane Boyce to rest. A sad day, yes, and for more than the Boyce family.
Miss Jane meant more to our community than most know: She was one of the rare people you meet in life who totally commits time and money to causes she knew affected people.
True, she loved her family. That was easy to see, but caring for the infirmed and educating children were part her life. That’s why Our Lady of the Lake Hospital and the Diocese of Baton Rouge will miss her.
Heartfelt condolences to the Boyce family, and a prayer that memories of this grand lady will linger, but that the pain of her passing will fade when remembering her warm smile, her always gracious manner and her motherly, caring nature.
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