Fishing for Thought
Sam Goldberg
It was the summer of my junior year when I decided to pack my stuff up for the weekend and head out to my friends cape house. My friend Jared and I had a great weekend fishing, swimming and relaxing planned. The drive down was honestly scenic in itself, it was the middle of the summer all the trees were lush with big green leaves, and every forest was teeming with life.
The bright sun was beating down heavily and I became parched. I told my good friend, Jared, to check the backseat for a water; there was none . I expressed frustration and my friend offered me a mint; he only had two left, one for me and one for him. I took the mint and was relieved when my mouth filled with saliva. We were twenty minutes away from his house and we couldn’t stop laughing with excitement.
When we got their his mom was about as eager to see us as we were to get down to the lake, but she was welcoming me in to her home so I was completely fine with seeing her for a half an hour or so. My friend could see that it was time to get to the water so we said our goodbyes and went to the lake. We sat chairs in the shallow water, took our shirts off and started fishing. It was around 4:30 and the sun was going higher and higher while getting weaker and weaker. I watched a family of ducks swim around for a while and feed on the abundance of algae, as they swam off I felt a large tug on my line. Before I could blink I was in a tug of war with a three pound largemouth bass, I only know that because I caught him. As I released the bass I still felt the numbing sensation of the mint on my tongue.
I looked up at the gorgeous sky that appeared to be turning into a kaleidoscope with a mix of blues and whites. We got bored with fishing for a little so we took his paddle board out into the middle of the lake. We felt like we owned the water. I remember feeling as if no one was around but me. My friend and I, that was it. A guy in a boat passed from a bit of a distance, but neither of us payed attention to him. He was not relevant to us at this point in time. I dipped my hand in the water and felt the warmth of the water, I made the impulsive decision of jumping into the water.
I was moved by how dark and ominous the water was; it scared me a little to be honest, but I dove deeper and deeper. I was curious. I found myself in a pit of darkness and very short of breath. I made my way to the top very quickly, I felt life come back to my body as I took huge gasps of the thin summer air. It was truly peaceful. We were in nothing but sweet serenity.
We ended up taking the paddle board back into shore to do some more fishing. We set back up in the chairs we were sitting in before, casting away again. It wasn’t long before I had another heavy tug on my line, and was playing tug of war yet again. I was again able to bring this one to the shore as well.
As I looked at how calm and still everything was, I glanced at the horizon and saw big dark clouds rolling in rapidly. I watched the dark storm and the once peaceful night sky brawl for dominance, but the storm was the victor. Before we knew it the sky was lit up with lightning, dripping in rain and erupting with thunder, but it wasn’t a cold rain, it was a warm rain. After we protected our belongings from the rain we actually sat in the storm, and admired its beauty and power. I was able to find peace in the madness and through all the noise the world around me was dead silent. Jared and I watched the storm blow over until around 12:00 am before we set off for his house.
Although it was just a fishing trip where I watched a storm, I learned a lot. I found the beauty in the darkness of the natural world that some people take for granted far too often. I learned to disregard technology and go live my life for what it’s really worth, not how many followers it says I have. I also learned that night that life was more enjoyable when you give it meaning, when you set out with a purpose, or a goal to accomplish like catching a big fish.