What are dads for? They are our first teachers who showed us how to ride our bikes and bait our first hooks. They are strong for us during hard times but have to fight to keep up those tough exteriors when we leave home for the first time. Dads are great at embarrassing and exasperating us. And despite it all, they love us. So on Father's Day as we remember those figures in our lives who have loved and provided for us, I want to say thanks for all the life lessons I learned on fishing trips.

Here's how fishing has helped me in real world:

1. My first fishing trip taught me to look for something bigger.

As a little girl, my first fishing trip was exciting. But I was too caught up playing in the dirt and with the worms to realize there was something more out there -- the fish! Sometimes in life, we're so caught up in what's immediately in front of us that it's hard to remember there's so much more.

2. Fishing taught me patience.

As any good fisherman knows, there's a difference between "fishing" and "catching." And fishing is worth the wait.

3. I learned that I could provide for myself.

I might not feed my family with what I caught on the regular, but baiting your own hook, casting your own line, and reeling in your own catch shows you how to be independent.

4. When life gets messy, I just clean myself up.

Sometimes things get a little messy, and that's not a problem. You just have to keep going.

5. It taught me the value of hard work.

Fishing isn't immediate gratification and sometimes things get sticky. You might have to deal with the frustration of a hook that cut too deep. But fishing teaches you to stick with it and see it through to the end.