A Memory of Times Past

When I was a boy, and that was many years ago, our family had a tradition of going fishing off the Seal Beach pier the Sunday of every Memorial Day weekend, never fail. My dad would pack up all the fishing gear and a radio to listen to the Indianapolis 500 while we fished.

I remember as a small lad being in the back seat of the family sedan as we stopped for bait in the early morning hours on our way to the pier. Remember, there were no 605 or 405 freeways but you took Highway 39 (Azusa Avenue) through all of the cities and stop lights until you reached Pacific Coast Highway. I have no idea how long it took because I was asleep in the back of the car.

I remember the pier so well even today as a long, long, long wooden structure that was very high over the ocean, a little scary and exciting at the same time. But the excitement of the day was being with my parents, my dad mostly, and fishing.

Now, my dad had a long pole with a huge reel and it looked like the thing a fisherman would use to catch some big fish and my mom used a drop line. A drop line is just like it sounds, you drop it over the side of the pier into the water, plop, plop.

I was always amazed that my mom caught more fish with the drop line then my dad did with his large casts into open water. He would cast out and after awhile would reel in the line usually with no bait on it. I often wondered if his huge casts flung the bait off the hook as it went into the water since he got very few bites. Oh well, he had fun regardless.

I usually hung out watching this and messed with the bait to the irritation of my dad. As I got older I fished also but never became an avid member of the club. I did have some very memorable fishing times on half-day boats from the pier though in my high school years.

Yesterday, I returned to that pier for the first time in 40 years; man, that sounds weird being able to say that and have it be actually true. My granddaughter Jordan and I had a day at the beach and I took her to that pier so I could experience it one more time with her.

When your parents are gone then you have to go places that they went in order to be close to them and this is one of those places. Sure there are other places also but this place is special to me.

With my mom alive I guess I saw no reason to have to visit but now that she has been gone almost a year now, I went back again maybe to grasp a little bit of my youth again or maybe just to remember a time when my life was less complicated. Either way, I enjoyed the walk on that pier even if I had to carry Jordan most of the way because now I have a new memory to add to the collection…Jordan and me walking the pier just like I did with my parents.

Hey, getting old isn’t all that bad after all.