Lazy Days of Summer

“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after.”
~Henry David Thoreau~

It was a normal Saturday afternoon.

We had been to the farmers market, the house was cleaned & the laundry washed.

I had just sat down with a glass of ice tea when Maya walked into the room looking rather glum.

"Whats wrong? Why the frown?", I asked her.

She replied, " There is something I've been wanting to do this Summer, Mama. Something you don't usually do because Papa would take us."

"Well, what is it Miss Maya? Is it something we can do together?"

"Mama, I just want to go fishing this afternoon. I know you don't like to but it would make me really super happy if we could. Can we pleeeeeeeeeeese?"

River looked up from the book he was reading & smiled really big.

Before I could even say "yes.", they were running out the door to gather poles, nets, tackle boxes and..... little did I know, while I was cleaning house, they had been in the yard digging up worms... a whole yogurt container of them.

I grabbed my camera & we were off.

Now, let me just add here that while I have fished in the past, it really isn't something I enjoy. As a vegetarian, I just can't get past how sad it is..how painful..how brutal to the worms..but, alas, my children really wanted to go. And I knew deep inside this was more of an emotional sort of thing..a familiar ritual they had with their Papa.

So, I quickly learned to put a bobber on the line, a hook under that

and well, then there was that worm part.

The wriggly, helpless worm.

Fish bait.

"I have an idea.", I said excitedly.

"How about we let these worms free & then we use the bread I brought along to put on the hooks?"

My kids weren't buying it. After all, they had just spent several hours digging up these slimy creatures & plotting & planning how they would talk me into going.

They had a lot of time invested here.

So I picked up a worm (oh the things we do for our children) and I proceeded to try and tie him on the hook. I pleaded with him..I begged..I did not want to stick his poor body.

But he wriggled and jiggled off every time.

Now, 10 year old boys can become quite impatient when their Mamas aren't as brave as they may be when it comes to these things.

River took the worm from me and hooked it on good with ease.

(I swear I only shrieked once when half its body fell off and crawled away.)

Casting his line, he sat on a rock & waited quietly for something to bite while Maya did the same on the other side of the pond.

We sat here for the next 3 hours quietly taking it all in.

In the end, no fish were harmed..a couple worms were dinner..and a beautiful frog hopped right into our net. We were greeted by dragonflies, bumblebees, butterflies & the most beautiful, golden sunset.

They may not have had any luck fishing, but the peaceful joy they brought home was enough to make this a new hobby for us all.

May you find much solitude in the lazy days of Summer.