What I am about write may not seem like much, but to me it means everything. For you to understand why, you would need to know my life. You don’t however, so just trust me. No other day in my life compares to the Peace and Joy I felt this day of which I write about.
It was Friday and both my sons were home. After breakfast and such, my oldest son and I went to get a few groceries, a fire permit and my fishing license. Yes …..fishing license! Not knowing if I could fish I took the chance and bought it. First one in a very long time. In 1997 I had surgery and lost most use of left arm. Being left handed it is a great hindrance . Over the years I have gotten stronger and gained perhaps 30% more arm use. I still can not lift things from shoulder up but I figure that is not required in fishing.
Later we three headed out to a great fishing hole. On the way we saw a bear cub running across the road. It was so cute and cuddly looking. We pulled over to the side of the road and my youngest son (25) got out and ran back to see if he could get a picture of it.
“Fool!” said my oldest son, (37), and quietly as possible backed the truck up in case mamma came out after my younger son. I was a bit troubled by this and was hoping baby was following mamma, not leading. All was well. They were gone. Still, it is to bad he did not get pictures of it tho. You NEVER want to get between a bear cub and its’ Mom. That could be very bad indeed.
We continued on till we came to the bridge we were headed for. Lovely I say! An old bridge on a dirt road. Nothing like it. Lots of big rocks and deep holes. Perfect setting for the trout! But first……Lunch! A tail-gate picnic! Loved it!
After we ate we fished. The thing that is so special about this day is, this was the first time in 23 years that we three have gone fishing together. Last time my baby covered himself with “slugs” Slimy yellowish /orange grass snails. He was sitting in the tall grass at my feet while I fished. I looked down and almost puked! LOL It was bad! Did you know that the slime off those things just stick to you? We called it a day and went home so I could clean him up. I laugh now but was not laughing then. Poor darling baby. His older brother was not happy with him because he was having luck fishing.
So back to current days…..
Like I said before, we got to a real good fishing hole. The water was high, cold and quick! Still water was off at the sides where the fish like to rest and wait for their dinner to float by. I was down river just a bit from my boys. They was watching over me as this was so new to me and they wanted to make sure I was doing well. However….as we continued to cast and come up empty, we all took a few steps to change casting positions. Without realizing it , for we were so intent on catching the “big ones”, we did not realize we could no longer see each other. Guess who caught a big trout???? I did!!! It was my first bite!!! I got very excited and screamed with excitement. While I was reeling it in and fighting it, my sons were hollering to me and getting over rocks and all of that …in fear that I had fallen into the quick, cold, rapids. They got me in their view just as the big fish slipped back into the water. I got it right to the rock I was standing on and just as it broke water, it got away. I saw it was very long, thick and very orange bellied. I was indeed very disappointed! My oldest son came over to me and filled me in on the conversation between himself and his brother. He scolded me for letting out that scream of delite that scared them so. I apologised to them both and said it was not to scare them. It just came out! I was excited. I did not catch that fish but all was well. I did not mind. It was spending the day with my sons.
After a while we gave up that spot and went down stream. My youngest son had caught two trout and we all wanted to catch some. I know I can not possably do this stream justice in written description, but I will try.
The fir trees were all filled out with new sprigs, that brushed against our flesh as we walked up the worn path. As we worked our way do the stream, my oldest son was with me every step of the way to help me over blow downs and big rocks. My youngest son chose to go on the other side of the stream so we had it all covered. Some places on this stream was very high up from the water and being afraid of height my son scoped out another way for me to get thru. We then came to a place where we were in thicket. Room for a rabbit perhaps but not us. Next to the stream in this area however, was where younger people would dive into deep holes. I can just imagine the fun. Oh to be young !!! The rocks here were covered with thick green moss that was very slippery and could cause injury. So we turn around and went over to the other side. We were then all together. The trail was not as packed down but it was easier walking. We came to an area where the rocks were huge, flat and easy to walk on and the big plus….they were water level! There were areas of gravel and sand mixed that was so easy to walk on that I do believe I heard my “piggies” squeal with delite! We fished there for about an hour. I still caught nothing. My sons caught small ones and after freeing them carefully from the hook, slipped them back into the water. After a little while I heard, “heads up!” I turned around and there were two young fellas in kayaks preparing to pass. We let them go by but instead of going further down stream, they stayed just outside the rapids as if to rest.
We all looked at each other and knew that the fish were now no longer interested in our bait. So we left.
We called it a day. It was a great day! We went home and I cooked up the three trout and we ate. After that we went out in the back yard and burned a pile of brush we had. The night was cool and the fire felt good. We carried the brush from the tree line to the center of the back lawn to burn. We kept it small so it was very easy to manage. As we burned it we reflected on the day. It was a very good day. We completed the day with a game of rummy before going to bed. With visions of the fish and the warm of the fire and the laughter of the card game……
I could almost hear the music!
JudyLynn