it. And how did they show their love and support? When we flew home to Chicago in time for the holidays, Jeff had posted on the wall of the garage a large print of me holding the fish…except that he had done a little work on the image with Adobe Photoshop and my giant trout was now the size of a guppy… . My dad turned 76 this winter. Last summer, for his 75th, Jeff and I took him— where else?—fishing and camping, on a five-day float trip down the Smith River in Montana. With guides and good food, this trip was a little more plush than the trips we used to take, but the essence remained the same. We were together, and we were fishing. As a faculty we talk about helping you students to find and pursue areas of passion at Belmont Hill: academic, athletic, artistic, extracurricular. But many of you have passions and interests and activities that we never see. I urge you to keep them— and if they happen to bring you time together with your dad, or your mom, or a sibling, I urge you to stay with them. The passions your dad or mom might have could become yours as well. Yet even more important could be the ties that bind a parent to a child—and that is a precious gift indeed. As fishermen say to wish someone good luck, I offer you “tight lines”—good luck— for a good and healthy spring, one where you get to pursue your passions as well.
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