Fishing tales

This past weekend was very eventful...
Friday night: We ate dinner at a circus-themed restaurant (Farrel's) where there was a lot of singing.

Saturday: We had a yard sale in the morning and sold about 75% of the toys that clutter my kids' closets, then that evening was parent's night out (which the kids actually loved and kept asking when the next one is). For date night, we had dinner and drinks at Dave & Buster's while playing Texas Hold' Em, then we watched Olympus has Fallen (a little graphic, but excellent movie that had me on the verge of an anxiety attack).

That led to... Sunday: Our almost 7 year old has wanted to go fishing since my husband came back from deployment last year. We're always so busy, but this time we made it a point to get up early, get fishing supplies and head to the pier. There were only a few other people there and the fish only seemed to be biting for one guy further down from us. I don't like seafood and didn't particularly want to see a fish dangling from a hook, but since we'd been there for almost an hour and a half and nothing was happening (so I wouldn't have to worry about seeing the fish), I decided to try... A few minutes after taking the fishing pole, I leaned over the cement ledge and peered into the water below. I saw a red fish swimming around and suddenly got excited. My husband knelt down and looked, but couldn't see anything. So for a second, I thought I was just willing a fish to be there and seeing some kind of mirage because it was so hot out and I just wanted something to happen so we could say we caught a fish, then pile into the car with the air-conditioning on full-blast.

So, I looked again, and suddenly there were three red fish. Then, I could feel the fishing pole being pulled from me. I tried to reel in whatever was tugging on the line, but I haven't been to the gym since I started my day job back in December and my arms were not prepared. So my husband took the pole and kept trying to reel it in. We could see the water splashing below and then the line snapped. "Are you serious?" I exclaimed. "I caught us a fish, and you let it go." Just as witty he replied, "You didn't catch a fish, you caught some kind of monster." This led our son to ask, "What if it was a shark?" Then, for the next two hours we kept talking about what would happen if we caught a shark, how we would cut the line before it pulled us into the water, how I would just throw the fishing pole into the water because I am not trying to see a shark and get eaten, what kind of sharks swim in that water, what kind of string is actually strong enough to pull up a shark, etc. All the while, our younger son waved and said "bye" to all of the airplanes that took off or came in above us, not the slightest bit concerned about sharks. It was a great day.

So, how does this relate to the blog (which has mostly been about my two cultures?). Well, referring back to the episode of "Our America: Life on the Rez," Lisa Ling examined how Native Americans are returning to their roots and natural resources to combat the issue of living an unhealthy lifestyle plagued with diabetes and obesity. They are now returning to; hunting, fishing, and gardening. Becoming dependent on yourself is one of the greatest passages to freedom. http://www.oprah.com/own-our-america-lisa-ling/Previews-Life-on-the-Rez