I thought you guys might enjoy the story over here. It's about kids, fishing, and throwin' a fly.
Life has become quite overwhelming lately with work, all my side film projects, and getting all my camera gear ready for Outdoor Retailer next week in Utah. Needless to say, I don't have time for much of anything, and it's starting to wear on me. Last night I was feeling that pressure pretty fierce when I started having problems with some camera gear. That's the last thing I need. Then around 9pm I looked up and I noticed my daughter standing in the doorway of the bedroom, just watching me. First thought was, how long was she standing there, and did she overhear the colorful conversation I was having with that stubborn piece of camera gear?
She said, "are you ok?" I quickly replied that yes I was fine and it's nothing a sledge hammer won't fix. She smiled and asked if I was going to be working all day on Tuesday, my day off.
"Yes, unfortunately."
"We should go fishing."
"I wish I could, just too much to do."
"Maybe when things slow down then" she said and walked back into her room.
I sat there thinking about that. When it slows down? When will that be? Never it seems like. I got up and walked in her room and asked, "you wanna go fishin' tomorrow morning?" I received a one word answer..."sure".
It was on. I figured I could get a little filming done, a little fishin' done, and a little relaxin' done. So I started quickly getting things together. I grabbed that piece of...camera gear by its scrawny neck and threw it in the bag as punishment. I think it knew I was serious this time.
We left early this morning and after another 20 minute road construction wait, we finally hit our drop in. I chose the canoe instead of the kayaks knowing we would have a portage around a dam. With my son, no problem, he's an ox and usually helps carry mine when he's done with his. But with her, I knew i'd be doing all that...twice. Once is good for me, so the canoe was chosen.
The wind was a good 15-25mph, but a beautiful morning otherwise. I decided early on that she would fish and I would try and keep the boat where it needed to be. With the wind being a jerk, it was constant paddling just to stay in one spot for a minute or two so she could get a few casts. We worked on technique and was showing her every good spot I could get to.
And the wind keep on going. We got to the dam after about 30 minutes. We got out and just messed around the area for a while. She fished, I filmed, then I grabbed the fly rod and got acquainted with some trees that liked my fly, apparently more than I did.
I do believe she is part fish, so before too long she jumped in to join them. Very typical for her. She would rather be in the water than out.
We played around for a while, then decided we had to head back. I threw a few more flies as the wind finally died down enough I could do it from the canoe.
As we got back to the drop in, I pulled the canoe along side the road so we could unload and go. As I did, it got a little close, and scared some of the creepy crawlys that were hanging around. Including a spider so big, you could have put a saddle on it. I was able to get my daughter's reaction on the gopro right after it jumped into the water. Didn't get the spider, but her face was priceless. I laughed, did a quick heebie jeebie dance, and got her out.
Today was an awesome day. Yes, I will have a ton of work to do, way into the night and the rest of the week i'm sure, but it was worth it. It's a day that she will remember as well. The day I stopped everything, just to go fishing with my girl. I can only hope for more blessed days like this. And the only way is to stop and realize there are more important things in life that shouldn't have to wait until things slow down. I was once given some very wise parenting advice, "you have a certain number of years that they chase you, then you'll spend the rest of your life chasing them."
Now...if you'll excuse me, i'm gonna go have a little chat with a certain piece of camera gear.
Thanks for coming along,
Scott