Sometimes we just have to laugh at ourselves. Because just when we think we’re so great, usually something happens to remind us that we’re not.
I visited my friend Jen in Wisconsin recently. She lives near large bodies of water, so, we decided to go fishing. We both have been fishing since about age 5, so this was no sweat. We had no poles or gear, of course, which brought us straight to Walmart.
After picking out a couple poles, grabbing a bucket of worms, and buying our fishing licenses, we strolled through Walmart with our chins up high. We were two cool girls. Everyone knew we were going fishing. And everyone was impressed. Some even said, “Wow, looks like you two are goin’ fishin’!” We sure were!
We got to the lake and set up our chairs. We even had a little snack from the cooler. With ease, we put together our fishing poles, the reels, or whatever they’re called, tied the appropriate knots (Jen saw a picture of how the knot should be); even added a bob and a weight.
But then, we had to open the bucket of worms. We peeked inside, only to find that these worms were definitely still alive. Still alive, and still very long and squirmy. We stared blankly at the bucket for a few moments. Now what?
Well, we managed to get a worm on the hook, but not without loud screams and wiggles of disgust. It was a good thing we had a pocket knife. We were able to get half of a worm on each of our hooks without touching them with our hands. We had accomplished feat number one.
Then we threw a cast into the lake (I think that’s what they say), only to discover that this lake was stocked with fish. They bit our worms off instantly. That was unfortunate, because we had to go through the whole process of getting another worm on the hook again.
We kept casting into the lake, but then were struck with the reality that a fish might possibly eat the worm and the hook, and not just the worm. Oh no, we said, what are we going to do if we catch a fish?! We started to get a little concerned.
And then it happened. Jen started yelling for help. As if I could do something. She caught one! Now we had to deal with it.
Amazingly, we were able to release the fish from the hook without touching it. It’s hard to describe how we did that, but I guess we accomplished feat number two.
After all that commotion was over, we decided to call it quits.
We weren’t so cool anymore, we discussed together. We then contemplated what we were going to say when someone asks if we caught a fish. For it was most certainly an unpleasant event. I guess she and I had never gone fishing without a dad or a brother to handle the fish and the worms for us. We walked away deciding that we will either work on our issues with slimy living things, or bring a guy along with us next time. Girls, I tell ya. We’re still proud of who we are, but we’ve accepted that we’re not great fisherwomen. At least not yet…
