Friday Before Tuesday
This is the last Friday before the First Tuesday in November, in the election year of 2020. I am just cracking into the newly arrived book by Steve Ramirez, “Casting Forward – Fishing Tales from the Texas Hill Country,” and enjoying the deepness of thought expressed thus far. But, once we go down that deep rabbit hole of thought, it also becomes a maze where other tunnels of thinking can send us in many directions.
For example, I wonder who will write the first book on fly fishing with the words “pandemic,” or “virus,” or “corona” in its title? And as we head straight toward another shutdown of our mostly shutdown lives, should we be in any hurry to run for the hills while we still can? See what I mean about these other rabbit tunnels? Or, do we as fly fishing writers stick to the higher ground, and avoid, or barely mention the COVID-19 pandemic in our writings? Perhaps we can look forward to some compilation books with titles, like “What I Did During the Great Pandemic – a Compilation From Sheltered Fly Fishing Writers in North America.” Notice the “North America” in the subtitle?
So the more educated leaders at the top of our administrations of government are saying this is lasting another year – minimum. And “normal” will not be returning until 2022 in all probability. Imagine that. Imagine another year of our people suffering loss and pain, regardless of who wins on Tuesday. Some of you may have already lost someone, and for that I am deeply sorry for your loss(es). I kept telling my SO in the spring, “It’s going to come close,” and luckily only one young and strong near family member caught it and beat it. Now again this month, I repeat myself, “It’s going to get close this time,” and as much as I hope I am wrong, I fear more that I am right.
Our fly fishing instincts should, and do for some, implore us to GET AWAY from this nuclear fallout, go to where it isn’t raining and cast. Look for a ray of light shining down into the rabbit maze, go to it, and surface into the sunlight, and run rabbit run.
The big problem with running is the briar patch we have to run through to get to the fly light. When I went through the June episode of the leg cut, and to the ER in Palacios, I asked the admitting nurse if they had any COVID cases there.”Yes sir, I just released one fifteen minutes ago,” was her response. Whoa. I knew going in that south of San Antonio was a game of Russian Roulette, but I didn’t know just how much of a hot zone it actually was – and assume still is. Just passing through thank you very much …
We can take comfort that there is more safety inside with our own than inside with strangers. But we can also take comfort that outside alone, or distanced from strangers, is also a strategy to be worked and refined for the next however many months we are quarantined. I hope you stick with me as we work through these refinements – here, in words and visuals that might bring a ray of light into your own rabbit maze (if you have one).
Stay tuned while keeping one eye on history unfolding. I am still wandering through the maze, and pausing to continue reading Steve Ramirez’s book, in fact only sends me deeper into the maze.
Category: Adventure, Body-Mind-Soul, Book Reviews
