That Counts for Something, Right?

Have I told you before about Joshua's addiction to affinity for fishing?
Early on in the summer he stated his goal was to go fishing every single day. He's come close to meeting that goal.
So last Wednesday night he was out fishing with his friend when my phone rang. It was Joshua. Telling me he'd just lost a pole. He'd had it leaning up along the railing and a fish got it and started swimming before Joshua had a chance to grab hold of the pole.
Too bad, I thought, but what do you want me to do about it? It would take me 15 minutes to get to the lake, and even if I was there, I couldn't imagine what I could do to get the pole back.
No worries. Joshua wasn't asking me to come fix the problem. He was disappointed and it seemed he just needed to tell me about it. How sweet.

I understand it stinks to lose something, but I didn't quite get why this should be such a big deal. The boy has several fishing poles! Ah, but this one was his favorite. And the next day he did want me to help him retrieve it.
His sister and girlfriend were mocking Joshua for thinking he could get the pole back, but he said he at least wanted to try.
So we drove to Lake Lansing. And walked out to the dock. Joshua cast a line out with a large hook and sinkers on it, hoping to snag his *favorite* pole.

No luck.

I could tell he was very hopeful about finding the pole, so I suggested maybe we could rent a paddle boat to go out and look in the lake for it. Joshua replied, "But, Mom, that costs $4 or $5." He knows how cheap I am! "Would you spend that?" I reminded him that a new fishing pole would be a lot more...And I went to rent the boat.

Out on the lake, we paddled and we looked, and Joshua cast out his line a time, or two. But we didn't see the run-away pole.
With a sad tone in his voice, Joshua mumbled, "Let's just go."

As we walked back to the van, Joshua told me why the lost pole was so good. And why the ones he has left don't quite measure up. I knew he was disappointed but I kept wondering, We tried. I rented that little boat for you so we could make a bigger effort. We tried to find it. That counts for something, right?
I was really hoping his disappointment over not finding the pole wouldn't overshadow the effort I'd made to help. I was hoping he would recognize my love in this small act of service. I was hoping it would count for something.

And when we were driving home Joshua began telling me the things he'd learned from this little episode. Then he said, "Thanks for taking me to look for the pole."

Ahhhhhh! It counted!