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On our Community Connection excursion a couple weeks ago, Mackenzie and I decided to share a fly rod. She took the first cast. Almost instantly, she felt the tug of a fish nibbling at the line. Eyes wide, she quickly thrust the rod back to me. “You take it,” she exclaimed. “I don’t want to catch anything!” We both burst into laughter.
I stepped up, still chuckling, and tried my hand at casting. To my surprise I caught a fish almost immediately. What I neglected to mention is, that while I love fish, I hadn’t actually wanted to catch one either. It had been over forty years since I last held a fish or removed one from a hook.
There I stood, a reluctant angler facing a slippery reality. But with some fumbling and help from a certain brave veteran, the catch and release was successful. The fish swam away unharmed.
Reflecting back, I realize that the excursion wasn’t really about fishing. It was about the connections we build in shared experiences, stepping out of our comfort zones, laughing at our mistakes, and supporting each other in moments of uncertainty.
Sometimes, what we “catch” has little to do with the line and everything to do with the bonds formed along the way.
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