It’s hard to believe that it’s already November. All I can think about this time of year is hunting mule deer. I hope everyone is having a fun and successful fall. This has been a busy fall for the Hanneman family. We started out in the Chugach Mountains in Alaska in early August for our middle son Caleb’s Dall sheep hunt. The outfitter, Hank Flatow, allowed me to guide Caleb on the hunt, making this an extra special experience. Caleb and I spent 10 days backpacking in the mountains, and he was able to take a great ram. It was a grand adventure, but I will let Caleb tell the story in his own words in an upcoming issue.
For me, though, this hunt struck me at how important it is to take advantage of opportunities when they arise. Amy and I have always lived by this motto, and we have made massive sacrifices to do so, but the experiences and memory banks for our boys are overflowing. With the sudden diagnosis of cancer and passing of my dad last year, to Amy’s onset of chronic diseases seven years ago, along with the passing of other close friends and family members, this has never rung truer. I don’t think anyone ever gets to the end of their life and says, “Wow! Look at all these things I have accumulated and all this wealth I have amassed.” I think people reflect on their relationships and the experiences and memories they created with loved ones.
My encouragement to our members is to take advantage of the moments in life that may come up spontaneously and not shy away from them. I am not saying to go and create financial instability for you and your family, but I am saying that you must decide where to make sacrifices to do the things you love without putting them off. I have been blessed to have a wife with an adventurous spirit that matches mine, who has been willing to live in a smaller, less expensive home so that we can afford to capitalize on going on adventures as they come up. She recently told me that she is so glad that she took advantage of career goals, trips, climbing, and hunting adventures while she could before getting sick and that she doesn’t have any regrets now that she is not able to do many of the things she did before. And that hit me hard. I know that I wish that my dad would have been able to go on more of my hunts with me, and that is a regret that I have. For me, that just makes me more determined not to pass up doing things with my boys and wife that they ask me to, even if it’s not hunting.
None of us are guaranteed tomorrow or great health in the future, so if we keep putting things off, saying that we will do them “later,” then we could be missing out. “Later” never comes for a lot of people, and I think people end up with a lot of regrets.
I know this soapbox got super heavy, and honestly, I really didn’t mean for it to. However, maybe we need a reminder now and then about not saying “no” when opportunities arise.