Survival Training on the St. Joseph River

Sometimes the best memories are the ones you probably shouldn't have survived.

It was sometime around 1982, in Mishawaka, Indiana.

My dad didn't have a driver's license, so we walked pretty much everywhere. That included our fishing trips.

One day, Dad took my brother and me fishing along the St. Joseph River.

Now, you have to remember, my dad was a Vietnam veteran. He had served in the Army, and apparently he figured a fishing trip was the perfect opportunity to teach his boys a little wilderness survival.

That day's lesson?

How to drink fresh water in the wild.

Dad explained that fresh water flowed into the river and that the sand along the bank naturally filtered it.

According to him, that meant the water was clean enough to drink.

And who were we to question him?

He was Dad. He'd been through Vietnam. Surely he knew a thing or two about surviving outdoors.

So there we were, kneeling along the bank of the St. Joseph River, cupping our little hands together and drinking water straight out of it.

Not boiled.

Not treated.

Not filtered through anything except whatever sand Dad believed was doing the job.

Just straight from the river.

And somehow, none of us got sick.

Looking back, I have to laugh. I don't know what was actually in that water, and I probably don't want to know.

Years later, my brother took his own children back to that same spot along the river.

He told me he swore that water had to have been full of parasites.

And honestly, he was probably right.

But that's one of the memories of my dad that still makes me smile.

For all his troubles, all his mistakes, and everything that happened in our lives, there were moments when he was just a father spending time with his boys.

He was taking us fishing. Teaching us what he believed were survival skills. Sharing something from his own experiences.

Maybe his water purification advice wasn't exactly sound.

But we survived the lesson.

And more than forty years later, we're still laughing about it.

Thanks for the survival training, Dad. Next time, we're bringing a water filter.