Tuesday, May 25, 2021
I remember sitting on the Mon River bank with Ed trying to learn how to fish, I believe that we fishing for catfish at the time. if I remember correctly I was about 8 or 9 years old and very frustrated that we had been on the river bank for what felt like hours but was really about 30 minutes or so. I told Ed that I wanted to go home and ride my bike because the fish where not biting. He looked over at me with his 20 year old ball cap to keep his head from getting burnt and said as nice as could be, "son, catfish are not like real cats, they do not chase a string. You have to leave the hock in the water long enough for the hock to sink too the bottom for them to smell the bate." The minute I did that I caught a wale of a catfish and he said it was the biggest one he even seen!! When we got home I ran that fish over to Papal Murray and said that I just caught the biggest Catfish that Ed had ever seen. Papal Murray yelled. "Hey Arline, you better make some more potatoes and put away the big frying pan. Those boys only caught a damn bluegill!"
Thank you Ed for always trying to make something so small feel so large and important! I have carried that thinking with me my whole life and share it with my kids today. Thank you for trying to show me that I can decide what is important and worth worrying about. Thank you for showing me that there really are no cows in this world that have speakers on there backs!! :)
With love, you are missed!!!
Kenny Costello