30 years ago I was a young man fresh out of the United States Marine Corps. I love the water and the 'draw' to it has existed all of my life. Then I dreamed of a life that would keep me at sea. I got what I wished for.
Through the decades, times have never been easy in making that choice. Love is often difficult and consuming. Through the decades, fishing became work and that work will forever be my passion and my love.
It took many years of listening to many people questioning what I do to escape. I chuckled at this. This is my escape-I thought anyways. When I was young, I knew everything.
I had a special client who later has become one of my closest friends. For years I had enjoyed looking at his images of trophy animals taken in hunting. I expressed an interest in trying it "one day". Then, I found myself saying "one day" to everything and too, progressively often.
I think it was 7 years ago that I received a call from my friend. I picked up the phone and I heard a stout toned question- "are you coming or not?'' I sat up in my office chair as if a king was on the other end of the lined. "Yes" I stuttered. A week later-off I went to Missouri to hunt world class whitetail bucks.
What happened next will remain within me for eternity. I found myself sitting in silence and immensely enjoying the outdoors. I found solitude and utopia. I came to realize I had made reconciliation and accord with myself. Somehow when I took those first dollars to share my passion to fish, I had lost my "great escape". That, I have come to learn, is a mistake.
I've never been much of a "killer". Like fishing, sometimes I harvest, sometimes I don't. There is actually little harvesting in both my hunting and fishing. For me, it is the "sanctuary" of the sea and forest (to include those I choose to do it with) that is everything in finding a inner peace.
I sat on a fence for awhile regarding this current invite from a sacred soul. Just like the very first time- "one day". Then I "heard" the echo of a wiseman in my head. He said,
"God often repeats a lesson until it is learned.".
For 3 days now, I feel as if I have been through an military "debriefing." First I gave myself to the
trust of two sets hands. Men. Special men. Each day they treat me like royalty and offer me without condition-seemingly everything they have. Next I slept and slept hard. Today I took a nice siesta. By mornings I sit entrenched in a dike overlooking a wet rice field. In the dark I listen. There must be a million geese here. I feel hearts beating as vibration through my boots. Everything is new and fresh. I learn from that observation and want that for myself.
So now, I get that. Serenity.
No one every promised us tomorrow. I am learning to "handle success". "One day" is a mistake that none of us can afford.
Let's gooooooo!
Screaming drags and tired arms!
Robert McCue
www,GiantTarpon. com
cell (727) 597-0957
