Journal of a Sabbatical

April 9, 1999

remembering fishing

National Poetry Month

Poet of the Day:

Hayden Carruth

Featured Site of the Day:

American Verse Project

Ten years ago today my father died. For five years before that he was hospitalized with brain damage from his stroke/heart attack. But it doesn't seem like that long ago that he was such a presence in our lives. I still tell his jokes. I still quote him to the kids. I still think how he would have handled a situation.

Yesterday I was remembering one time he took me to opening day of fishing season for my birthday. We had to get up really early - much more exciting to me as a nine year old than it is now! We packed a lunch and our fishing rods - yes I had my own then - and went to Lake Cochituate in Natick along with about a zillion other people with brand new fishing licenses pinned to their jackets or hats. This was before the entire Rt. 9 and Rt. 30 became a gigantic strip mall. There was the Carling Brewery on the Shores of Lake Cochituate ... New England - I can't quite reproduce on the page the sound of the announcer's voice on the commercials but there was a pause and three notes before he said New England and the words "New England" were slowed down and dragged out in a wistful sort of way. Anyway, that was about it for industry and it didn't interfere with the fishing.

I remember it as really bright and sunny and very exciting. I baited my own hooks. I caught a few really small fish - maybe perch or sunfish definitely not trout or bass. I fed them to Tiger in the driveway when we got home. Tiger devoured them hungrily and would've eaten our catch limit and then some if we'd had 'em.

Another time we did opening day of fishing season at Walden Pond. I remember rowing out to the center of the pond in a rowboat. That is strange because this happened before we built the rowboat. Maybe it was a canoe or maybe we rented the rowboat. Must've rented the boat. I didn't catch anything that day. Too excited to sit calmly and focus.

Learning to fish has stood me in good stead throughout my life even though I no longer eat fish (or meat) or catch and kill fish. The skills you need for fishing: mindfulness, the ability to sit still for long periods of time, the ability to do nothing ... are a lot like meditation. I'm not sure what the ability to bait hooks has gotten me, but software development does have a lot in common with trying to stick a hook through a squiggly squirming dirt-eating worm.