When my dad would take me fishing, when I was just a little girl, he was doing so much more than just taking me fishing.

When I was three, my dad would take me fishing, and he taught me to be confident. Fishing wasn't something a boy would do, it's something I could do too, better than boys. By age five, I could cast a fishing pole better than any of my older boy cousins. That made my dad so proud.

When I was eight, my dad didn't just take me fishing, he spent time with me. My sisters and I would wait for him to get home from work in the summer time. He would get home and we would run outside screaming "Can we go fishing!?" No matter how many hours he had worked that week or how tired he was, he would get our poles ready and take us over to the pond next door. And we would go fishing.

When I was ten, my dad taught me to be self-sufficient. I could bait my own hook, with a worm or a minnow. I wasn't afraid to hold fish like the other little girls. In fact, my favorite thing to do would be to stick my hands in the little styrofoam cooler with all the minnows and go outside after it rained to collect night crawlers for our next fishing adventures. I would look for hours for night crawlers and go inside to show him how many I found, all so we could go fishing.

When I was 11, my dad took me fishing, and he showed me how to be patient. He bought a little fishing boat with nothing but one seat and room for a cooler. He took my twin sister and me out on our favorite lake, fishing poles in hand, where we sat for five hours and didn't see one fish. Then it started to rain. We may not have caught anything, but my dad was still taking me fishing.

When I was 12, my daddy took me fishing, and he showed me you're never too old to hang out with your dad. We got up at five in the morning, then we stopped at McDonald's to get biscuits and gravy before we headed to Lake Erie. We stayed out on the lake all day long. I caught the first fish of the day, then I caught the biggest fish of the day. I still loved going fishing with my dad.

When I was 16, we stopped going fishing. Not because I didn't love my dad but because I grew up. I got a car and a job and a boyfriend. I didn't want to go fishing with my dad anymore. I was too old to go fishing with my dad.

Now, I'm 21, and I want to go fishing with my dad. I have so much left to learn. I have to learn how to be a successful adult, how to be financially stable, how to be a good parent, just like him.

Dad, I'm sorry we stopped going fishing. But always know we weren't just fishing. I can't wait for my future daughter to go fishing with you one day. I love you.