About anything that could have gone wrong at work did go wrong. Later I arrived home and was greeted with an extended dinner drama with the kid. Since chicken nuggets were not on her plate, she didn't want to eat her food, which resulted in some removal of privileges. (I hate it when I actually have to be a parent and make my kid cry). Worst off...which may be more grim than death or dismemberment...I learned that I would be fishing solo on Opening Day for the first time in years.
Sure, Opening Day isn't everyone's cup of tea. Purely ceremonial, it's a shoulder-to-shoulder, stupid stockie, battle fishing cliche, but I still enjoy it because I generally get to hang out with some of my oldest friends and just be idiots for a few hours. We take sick pride in getting there early, spreading out, claiming wide swaths of land, and mocking pretty much everyone around us that clearly doesn't understand that you don't wade through the middle of the fishing hole. Plus, if you show up to the fishing hole 5 minutes before the 8AM start and expect us to make room for you...you've got another thing coming. Yeah, we're pretty much douchebags.
Unfortunately, over the past few years the number of attendees in our party have slowly
Well I got the news yesterday that it wasn't gonna happen this year. Something about my fishing partner's need to be overseas for work. Dude, it's Opening Day! Screw work...that's what the other 364 (this year I guess it's 365 thanks to Leap Year) days are for... FML!
So I'm rollin' solo on Opening Day 2012.
Look out Darby Creek, we may be down to one, but you're still getting your ass kicked.
 |
| Last year's "Creel o' Death" |
Post Script:
I will confess that I did consider taking Lilly out on Opening Day instead, but last weekend she confided to me that "I don't really like fishing anymore," so I'll just let that angle simmer for a while. I'm not one to forcibly shove something down my kid's throat...unless it's the dinner she stubbornly refuses to eat.
How can she expect to have any pudding?
ReplyDeleteShe prefers ice cream...with the Magic Shell stuff...and didn't get any.
DeleteOne of my boys decided he's more of a shooter than a fisher so I've lost him for a bit on the stream (but gained him on the clays field) but thankfully the other is still willing to sling a line.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about dying traditions. I'm a bit older than you and had similar experience. It seemed to hit a trough and then was reborn years later somewhat differently but just a good.
Thanks for the note Steve. I'm not that concerned long term, it will either come back around, or evolve into something new. Either way, it's all good.
DeleteI find "dinner drama" more challenging when you have TWO kids who complain about everything but mac & cheese. Ahh, the challenges of fatherhood. Thank God for fishing!
ReplyDeleteLilly approved foods: Chicken Nuggets, Mac & Cheese, Hot Dogs, Cheese Quesadilla. That's it. I keep reminding myself she'll grow out of it...
DeleteHank approved foods: Pizza, cheese quesadilla, mac and cheese (but only from Panera), hot dogs, and smoothies. Any of those foods will be met with the exclamation, "My fave-wit!" Anything else will be met with, "No, I don't want that."
DeleteCoincidentally, Lilly prefers Panera Mac & Cheese to all others as well. Must be the way they microwave it.
DeleteSo sad, and so true. And if your wife is like my wife, she has found the recipe online, and cooked said Panera mac & cheese just like the restaurant, only to have a toddler nose turned up at it.
DeleteOpening day is a battle! How do you go into battle alone? ARGH!
ReplyDeleteEye patch & switchblade.
DeletePretty much. That photo in your post looks like a scene out of the Battle of the Somme. NO THANKS!
DeleteTrench warfare at it's finest.
DeleteOh Boy. The onset of the alien child. Luckily she'll outgrow it, but the question is: Will you survive that long?
ReplyDeleteMark
Opening day is joke but it's FUN.
ReplyDeleteSame story over here 4 of my fishing buddies and I meet up and stake out a "hole"
To this day I still loose sleep the night before.
In 100% agreement. There are only a few times I fear oversleeping. When I have an early AM flight or on Opening Day.
DeleteI cannot wait for Opening day!! Its a fun time to join the madness!
ReplyDelete(p.s) I posted to averageoutdoors.com
Ooh, looks like you're out of quarantine
DeleteWe get the Breakfast and Supper meltdowns...24 days to season here.
ReplyDeleteOurs is the 31st. Bring it. Nice blog BTW.
DeleteThanks, work in progress...been reading yours for a while now. Cheers
DeleteFeelin' a little cranky huh? Maybe you could use a little time "alone" on the creek as is. I feel pretty sorry for anybody that gets within a rod length of you that morning. Go kill 'em (the fish). When you bring home your creel o' death this year maybe she'll catch the fever again.
ReplyDeleteMy buddy actually was the one who brought home the creel o' death. Neither woman in my house likes trout.
DeleteJeez, I thought you lost your job or something worse. I'm relieved it's just a little work/family/fishing drama. These things will work themselves out with time.
ReplyDeleteNo, just a bit of melodrama to get you to read...I'm in a much better place today.
DeleteMy guess is Lily got back at you by not going fishing. Crushing...
ReplyDeleteEven though they're cute when they're little, they can still be evil. Pure evil.
DeleteOpening day is a sacred thing to me and my friends. We are all going to college next year, some local some not, but I know two of us will be returning for sure. We just like to piss ourselves laughing at everyone else. I don't see many people wading in the creek, but there are a ton of guys that show up in chest waders(the creek is only about 5 foot deep at its deepest).
ReplyDeleteWhaaaza "Opening Day?" OK, truth be told we still technically have one here in GA but with all sorts of trout fishing going year-round now, it's not the big deal it used to be 20 years ago. Back then almost all the streams were closed until the last Saturday in March and the bank erosion on trout streams around here on that one day alone probably amounted to more than that of the rest of the year combined. It was dog eat dog and I did it for about 10 years. Then, just before GA opened up most trout water to YR fishing oddly enough, I had my fill. I haven't fished an Opening Day in about 19 years and I don't miss it one bit. I'd much rather sit around a campfire on any given weekend near some wild fish water than fish in the Circus of Opening Day. Not that I'm against anyone else enjoying it. Maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy(er).
ReplyDeleteI keep having these Spring trips to the GSMNP. Everyone should come on down and we'll chase something besides rubber trout from a stocking truck. I guess I'll set up another one this year in May.