Dear John.

 Dear John,

            You taught me a very important lesson this past weekend. One I feel the need to share with the world. Ever since I have known you, you’ve always had nothing but honest words to bring to the table. You’ve also always been one of the people that, no matter what crazy situation I have gotten myself into, you will tell me how it is. I’ve always admired your honesty in that sense and to be honest myself, it keeps me grounded. I value your friendship more than you will ever know.

            As you know, I have a natural talent for fishing. All day Sunday I tried my hardest to catch a fish so I could provide for camp and you stayed by my side all day. Although you had no confidence in my natural ability to cast a reel, you kept your patience with me every time I caught a stick and made you take it off. When I finally gave up the first time you told me, “Shelby, how do you know your next cast won’t be the cast that makes the catch?” I didn’t care, in all honesty. I knew I wasn’t going to catch a fish. At that moment I walked away you and yelled my name saying you caught a fish, and I realized just how wrong I was. But that wasn’t enough for me to learn by lesson, because less than twenty minutes later I was fed up with fishing again and stomped away handing you my fishing pole. As I am walking away I literally couldn’t believe my eyes when I see you fall in the water reeling in another fish. Thinking about it now still has me in shock.

            You taught me a very important lesson that day without even realizing it. I know that sometimes in life you forget the important things; However, God places certain people in your life to teach you something and you were the one he chose on Sunday. That afternoon I learned that no matter how hard something is in life, whether it be trout fishing, climbing a mountain, getting an internship, applying for grad school, or anything else hard in life you should never give up. Giving up is showing weakness, and that’s what I let show all day on Sunday. Thank you for teaching me that no matter how hard life can be, if you stick with it you’ll have the end results that you wanted. I’m so thankful to have you in my life as a friend, and a brutally honest mentor.

Sincerely,

Shelby