Fishin'

I went fishing with my dad today. I think it is a tradition (if something done twice can be a tradition) that we have started. We go fishing once during the summer before I leave for graduate school in the great white north (definition North--anything north of Memphis). I love to go fishing. I guess I should clarify what I mean by fishing. The first thing you should know about our fishing trips is that we never catch anything. Secondly, we do not stay until we are tired. Instead, we leave after we have lost all of our bait. I guess I should explain something else. We do not use live bait. No, I refuse to hold a cricket and I will not plunge a hook through the abdomen of anything. You might say that this is incongruous with the idea of fishing. "He does not mind killing a fish or putting a hook in it," you say. Well you are wrong I would never kill a fish with my own hands and moreover I would fell terrible if I had to yank a hook out of ones mouth, but I do not have to worry about this. You see, I have not caught a fish since I was in junior high school.

So why do I enjoy fishing? I don't know. I really enjoy this place we go. It is on the Sunflower River and called the locks and dam. The dam has not worked for fifty years or so. I think the reason I like going there is because of the history. My dad has a picture of my grandmother there when she was teenager. My mother tells me stories about going there when she was a kid. Her dad (Daddy Peach) would pull a vine out of the tree for her to swing on while he and grandma Peach fished . Then one of my earliest memories is of going there with my family. My dad and sister would fish while my mom and I built little houses out of sticks.

So why do I enjoy fishing? I don't know. I really enjoy the place we go. It is the Sunflower River and called the locks and dam of my imagination. The dam has not worked for many year. I think the reason I like to go there is because of the history. My dad has a picture of my grandmother there as a carefree teenager before adulthood came to her. My mother tells me stories about going there when she was kid. When she could swing out over the water with the carefree heart of a child. Then one of my earliest memories is going there with my family. My dad and sister would fish while my mom and I built little houses out of sticks.

So why do I enjoy fishing? I don't know. I really enjoy the place we go. It is the long snake like river. It is the moan of a bygone time. It is the laughter of the careless youth. It is the giggles of the carefree of child. It is the warmth of my family. You see, my dad and sister would fish while my mom and I built little houses out of sticks.

I went fishing with my daddy today.