So, my son and I spent about 6 hours ice fishing on Friday with some friends who have moved out of town. The fishing sucked, but we had a great time. The bulk of the time was spent just playing cribbage and shooting the bull... but there was one moment of great excitement. One of the rattle reels starting turning and we all jumped up and ran to the corner hole. Mike set the hook and starting bringing it in... his son and I saw the Walleye swimming by a few feet below the ice... nice fish. Didn't take long, however, for the line to snap and off she went. Dang! For the next several hours, the disappointment of missing the fish would come back up to the surface and we'd all share our disappointment before moving back to another subject.
As I thought about the fun day we had, I thought about how the conversation would have been different if we would have caught a different fish after that and been able to bring it in. It's just like life... as things happen to us, we make mistakes, or "the big one gets away" in life, we become pre-occupied with that negative experience until the point at which something good replaces it. The old attage, "get back on the horse" is critical in my life... if something doesn't go the way I want, I will live with that memory... it is important for me to replace that negative memory with a new memory rather than allow that memory to dwell and fester.
I think I need to go ice fishing again soon.
Who is Steve?
- Steve Fredlund
- Cambridge, Minnesota, United States
- Married since 1991 (Tracy) with 3 kids and 1 cat.
1 comment:
Was a great time, Steve.
Whether we got the walleye or not doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.
Months later, I remember the big walleye as a good memory. We almost got it.
"The one that got away" stories are almost more fun to hear than "the one that I caught" stories. Gives one hope for the next chance.
Hope to do it every winter with you guys!
-Mike Jones
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