It’s 1989, and I’ve just turned nine. Fishing is everything to me, and my family has just hit me with a surprise: a birthday trip to a gorgeous lakeside cabin with prime fishing spots. I’m buzzing with excitement.

Mom warns me the trip’s a four-hour drive and suggests I grab some entertainment to keep me busy and out of everyone’s hair. So, I head to the library and stumble upon “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson. That book becomes my road trip buddy, and four days later, I'm in the back of our small Dodge pickup, nose-deep in adventure.

I’m captivated. 

Forget fishing; I'm sailing the seas with Jim Hawkins, hunting for pirate treasure. I’m so engrossed that I sneak under a bed to read in peace when we finally reach the cabin. My family finds me, but I don’t budge. They can have the fish; I’ve got a treasure of my own.

This podcast comes from that little boy's heart.