It seems people are always busy. There are things that need to be done at home, work, or to help someone else.
I have found there is so little time for my wife and I to spend quality time alone. In quality time, I do not mean mowing the lawn together. I do not mean the 10 minutes early in the morning before we start the day when we stare, not seeing, over a cup of coffee. In quality time, I mean being alone with one's lifelong soul mate for an hour or two with nothing more important to do than to go fishing.
Sunday afternoon, after what seems like an eternity of always being too busy, my wife and I decided just the two of us would go fishing. It was one of those impromptu trips, between trenching in the new electric line to the barn and shampooing the carpet in the back room.
Very little planning took place before we left. We were almost to the lake when we decided we were hungry. The thought of food had not occurred to either of us before we departed, so I took inventory of the food in my truck. I usually carry a fair amount of emergency food, you know, just in case of emergency.
The last emergency, traveling all the way home from work on Friday, pretty well depleted the rations. I found one peanut in the side pocket of the door and four Tic-Tacs. Being the gentleman I am, I offered the peanut to my wife. She took it and threw it out the window. I could not believe it. I am sure it had been riding around in my truck for less than a year. A good source of protein was gone in an instant. We split the Tic-Tacs that were still in their little plastic container. With all the nourishment derived from two tiny candies, we should be able to ward off starvation for another five or ten minutes.
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We grabbed the fishing equipment, jumped in the boat, and headed out into the lake. A light breeze formed small ripples and cooled the late afternoon. Shadows from the trees near the water were spreading across the lake making a picturesque setting for our outing.
My wife caught a nice crappie almost immediately as we fished the structure behind the wing dams. Another crappie was followed by a big bass. The bass ran for the trees, swam around a submerged branch, and managed to disengage the hook. With the nonchalance of someone who had already caught several fish, she spent no time being concerned about losing the big one and went back to casting for the next one. She caught a bluegill and a couple more crappie before I got my first bite. I missed a couple strikes and finally was able to land a small bluegill.
My wife continued to catch fish until we decided to call it an evening. I had to be satisfied with one small fish to show for my efforts.
Contrary to our earlier concerns, we did not starve to death before we were able to get back to civilization. Thanks to my wife, we had enough fish for a nice meal. The best part was we were able to spend a few hours of quality time together doing what we wanted to do rather than what we needed to do. It was nice to have some time for just the two of us.
Walter Scott is an outdoors enthusiast and freelance writer from Bloomfield, Iowa.
