My grandpa (I called him Paga) taught me three essential rules to life. He never stated these as life rules, but they work well.

Rule #1. If you want to catch a fish, keep your line in the water
Fishing is boring, especially for a kid who’s not catching any fish. Paga was a master fisherman, not flash or with the best gear, but the guy that brought home buckets of fish. On one particularly boring day, while I watched him catch fish after fish, I asked him his secret. He just said “Keep your line in the water.”

Be patient, keep at it, focus on the one thing you want to do.

Rule #2. Work til the job is done
Once when I was about 12 or so, my brother and I went with Paga to one of the apartment buildings he owned to clean up the yard. Rakes in hand on a hot summer day, my brother asked “what time will we be done?” Paga’s response : “When we’re finished.”

Everyone talks about working hard, I’m more a fan of get things done.

Rule #3. Play each hand like it’s a winner
Ah euchre, the game of kings and fools. Despite the hand, or the score, Paga always seemed confident in his hand. And if it turned out to be a bad hand, there was another right after it that would be better. He played them all like winners, and occasionally put the “Whammy” on the other team’s cards to mess with them.

It’s the hand you have to play, play it like you’re going to win.

Thanks for the advice, Paga!

paga
Emanuel Moreno
1920 – 2009