Learning to Fish

Life has been a little bit stressful lately. I'm not really sure why it is this way.. Sometimes I have to put on my really objective, non paranoid viewpoint and look at my life and say... Wow, I am so blessed. The kids are all healthy, we have jobs, look at how far we have come.. Instead of lamenting the debts we still pay, the things we haven't accomplished, the uncertainty in the world and in the economy which does creep into all of our lives.

Sometimes Kris and I talk at length about stressful things and last weekend I'd had enough. I told him I didn't want to talk about those things anymore and I went to the movies and saw Fast and Furious alone and ate Good and Plenty's. I also started boxing up things and threatening everyone in my life with a big YARD SALE at some point. The next day we threw the fam into the car and drove up to Page Springs where every mosquito in the Eastern Oregon region decided to come to our campsite. The kids floated down the stream screaming at each other and I carefully tended our campfire, coaxing it into S'more making coals. Kris put on his waders and headed for the stream. At some point in this sequence of events we had a conversation about his great love of fishing. I made a remark about never really learning to fly fish and how I might actually enjoy accompanying him on some fishing adventures.

At this point, a voice came into my head that said, "How about next Saturday instead of planning and hosting a Yard Sale that will frustrate you to no end.... you go fishing with your husband.."

So I told Kris my idea, courtesy of the voice in my head and we began planning our fishing excursion.

Last night we drove to Rite Aide where we got my first Fishing License!!!!

This morning at 6am we got ready. We drove again to the Steens and made our way to Fish Lake. Kris helped me suit up in waders and fins and we both got into float tubes.

We floated the lake for about 3 hours and casted, re-casted and caught a few fish, one that he let me reel in. We got out on a shelf by the bank of the lake and retied some dry flies onto the line. Then we stood on the bank and watched a lot of fish jump but never bite. We casted a lot from the bank. Kris pronounced several of his casts as having "great presentation".

We hiked to the top of the mountainside next to the Lake and then back down and into our tubes.

Time was really suspended. I didn't think of anything stressful. We didn't talk of anything stressful. It was just a great day.

We got back in our tubes and drifted towards the shore.. our poles were just trolling through the water. At that very moment, I got a bite! Me, the non angler on my first real life fishing outing! My line was bobbing up and down and I carefully reeled the fish in and into my net! Kris even captured it on my phone!

That was probably the high light of the day. Excited and tired, we drove home by way of a murky pond off a very non vehicular path. Kris stopped at this watering hole for a brief 10 minute fishing stop that included a scary rattlesnake sighting. Luckily, my paranoia kept us from getting bit. I spotted the snake and began running and jumping and shaking. Kris thought I was teasing him but then as the sagebrush began shaking, he too got quickly out of the snakes way.

And that was our adventure for this week.

Moral of the story. It is hard to feel stress while float tubing on the lake with your hot husband.