Fishful Thinking - One Little Fishie

Go fish! It’s not something I do a lot. The last time I played that card game was with my grandmother in 19-oh-never-mind; however, the last time I went fishing was about two weekends ago.

The first time I fished was when I was married to Quinn, Nathan’s Dad. His grandfather built a log cabin in Arlington, Vermont, and we used to spend weekends there; it was a very rustic place with no electricity, and the drinking water came right out of the stream that ran down Red Mountain. We fished in the nearby stream for trout.

Trout are very much like Plume, my kitten. Well, Plume is no longer a kitten; she’s over a year, but she still looks and acts like a kitten. You have to sneak up on trout and Plume in order to catch them, because they’re both very skittish.

Quinn taught me the art of fishing for trout in a beautiful babbling brook; he was an avid fisherman, who sold his own hand-crafted flies for fly fishing to support himself in high school. We’d hide behind the rocks, cast our line, and then we’d hope for a bite, because if the trout saw you, like any good perp, the trout had you made as a fishing enforcement person. It was very challenging and kind of like a game of cat and mouse, though it was really a game of fisherman devout and trout.

Quinn and I usually caught a few small trout in the brook. Before we left, he fried them up on the Coleman stove in the cabin. He scrambled some eggs and along with the fish, it was a delicious breakfast.

It’s funny, because as I grow older, I grow wiser. Okay, it’s not really wiser, because I still do some really stupid shit every now and then; though, at least, I’ve learned not to iron clothing while wearing it. (Don’t laugh too hard, Cathy!) Anyway, I think I have become more aware of life and how precious it is, and this last fishing trip made me think about life differently in many ways.

A month or so ago, my friend who heads up our Technical Support group asked me, “You’re coming on the fishing trip, right?” Being a contract employee, I asked, “Can I? I’m not one of you!” He said, “Sure,” and I said, “Okay.”

Two years ago, I had gone on the very same trip. My date had been Nathan; he, like his Dad, loved fishing. When I asked him if he wanted to go, he answered, “Yes,” in under one second.

I took a bunch of pictures of him on that trip. I made this collage, which I will always love. Even though he deleted me as his friend on Facebook, via Mother Facebook Cyber Stalking, I know he still has this on his photo page.



When the opportunity came to go again, I asked him about it. He said, “No,” in under one second. I asked why he couldn’t go, and he said that after taking a week off from work, he didn’t want to ask for another day off.

My attempt at a mother and child reunion was not a motion away; my motion was totally vetoed. I thought about it later; I’m sure if Matt asked Nathan to sleep over the night before the fishing trip and play hookie from work, Nate would have surely said, “Yes!” Lately, I was sick of hearing Matt, Matt, Matt!”

When I was at work, my friend, Amrit, stopped by my office. She asked me if Nathan was going to attend the fishing trip with me, because I had told her about it. I put on my totally pouty face and said, “No,”, and then I asked half-kiddingly, “Do you want to go?!?!”

Amrit never struck me as the fishing type, though I never struck myself as the fishing type either, and I still don't think I am. A few times, I had ventured to hint at asking Amrit to go to the mall or the movies, but she never responded in the affirmative. In the end, I figured that just being friends with her at work was good enough for me.

She stood there and pondered my offer; I was really surprised, because I never expected even a ponder from her. She said, “Well, I’ll think about it.” When one motion was not a moment away, perhaps another was.

The week before the fishing trip, she came by my office. She asked, “So, Nathan’s still not going with you?” I told her he wasn’t, and then she said, “Well, maybe I’ll go.” I think my mouth dropped open and then all the voices in my head screamed, “Yay!”

She asked if there was still room to bring friends. I told her that I’d email my friend, Dave, who was organizing the trip. I did, and he said there was plenty of room.

When she found out that the trip wasn’t full, she said, “I’ll go.” While I had really wanted to share the experience with Nathan, I was elated when she said she would go. My excitement was two-fold; one, I never thought Amrit would do anything like this, and two, it was so nice that she wanted to do something like this with me.

And then….
Queue theme music…
Cliff hanger!
mmmm, BA, ha, ha!
I’m sorry, but you have been spoiled rotten all these months with the instant blog gratification.
It stinks to be you hanging on the edge of your seat like that, doesn’t it!?
Tune in tomorrow for…
Two Little Fishies….my Mom always sang this song to us when we were little. I still love it, though I like this version better.
♥

P.S. And I don't know about you, but I'm digging this cold and rainy Massachusetts weather. Time to break out the vintage sweaters! Wooo-hooo! And, a girl can never have too many sweaters, pearls, cats, Alfa Romeo Spider convertibles, cookie cutters, lipsticks, shoes or wonderful friends...like you all. ♥