Hooked on Grady,
my first Grady was a 192. I bought it used. I have 3 kids and my middle son is severely disabled . His name is Kyle and he is 21. He is blind ,has cerebral palsy,is mentally retarded and has a mild form of epilepsy. He had meningitis when he was 24 days old and his brain bled out. He is an awesome young man. I love the outdoors and when he was an infant and toddler life was straight up hard and miserable for me. Kyle was aweful . I would take him kayaking and he cried the entire time. When he was 4 we were in the keys and I was at my wits end. Kyle was cranky. The wife was more so and I thought my life was over. Everything I loved. I couldn't do any longer . So, I rented a 22 foot Angler from Pennekamp and strapped Kyle in his life jacket and the tears and screams flowed. Wife was pissed we spent the money and I was damned if I was going to let this ruin my one and only trip to the reef. So we pushed off. My daughter was 6 and my other son was 2. We were going come hell or high water .I was at my wits end .
We start the boat and Kyle is sitting next to me on the leaning post bench seat. We idle out and he is fussing. The wife is glaring.We come around a tight bend in the channel and the sign says resume normal operation. I gently put the throttle down and the engine came to life. Kyle sat up straight. He stopped crying and a huge smile came across his face . My life and attitude changed that day. Kyle loved boating! He loved going fast and this was one activity my entire family could do as a family! Three months later I was a proud owner of a1998 Tournament 192 with a Johnson Ocean Pro 150! Boating for us has been a blessing worth every hard earned penny we have spent on it. I didn't have the biggest house,the newest TV or nicest car. None of that matters , I had a boat baby!
When my youngest turned 8,I started taking Cole on father son fishing trips to Florida. I wanted him to have time with just me and not having to share it with his special needs brother. I have a buddy and we are sympatico and run the boat together quite well he brings his son too.We split the costs of the trips. It's our thing. Boating has been an amazing part of my life and my kids have grown up doing it. They have learned a lot not just about the boat,but weather, respect for the sea in terms of conservation, fishing responsibly and so forth. Cole is a sophomore in college in Orlando and is majoring in biology and thinks he wants to do sea turtle stuff,maybe fisheries or who knows run a charter boat .
Get fishing with your son. it's never to late.
