Gone Fishing

When I was a little girl I loved to go fishing. Our back yard was a great place to catch night crawlers. My brother, myself and some kids in the neighborhood took our flashlights out to the back yard to look for and catch the worms. We had a great little business going with the dads who lived near us. We'd sell a handful of the large worms for a nickle. I was the only girl who wasn't afraid to catch the wiggly things.

Every summer our family visited my uncle's cottage at Chautauqua Lake in New York. When I was seven years old I caught a 10-inch bass. My uncle fried it for dinner that night. I was so proud. I still have a picture of myself holding that fish.

I'd give anything to go fishing again, to sit on the dock waiting for a fish to start tugging on my line. There's nothing like the experience of catching a fish. My priorities have changed since childhood. I would now throw the fish back in the water rather than going through the trouble of cleaning and preparing it. I will get my fish at the grocery store.