. . . and then there was pickle.

And yet again I’m ripping off Denver Dad to write a post after he’s already touched on the subject – here’s my justification . . . he only suggested the idea of this, and I’m going to tell a personal story about my own . . . OH, Nevermind.

The general idea is that it is important to try to have a life outside of being a parent.

Denver Dad’s point was that being a happier/healthier human will make you a happier/healthier parent. Now the way that I got to ‘my time’ – was actually in an effort to make The Wife a happier/healthier person.

The Pickle is starting to develop relationships. It is obvious to me – who is trapped alone with her 10 hours a day that she is starting to form bonds – at least with me, and Mr Crinkle Cow. As the wife is at work all week I thought it was very important to schedule alone time with mommy. This would help to develop their trust and relationship.

Why would one need to schedule this you may ask? Because every weekend since this child was born has been a whirlwind of social events – running from here to there and being juggled between here, there and dozens of adoring fans.

The Wife and The Pickle are never alone together. Even when I was in school it always turned into a time for people to come visit or take the two of them out, and I think that this is important.

On my end - since The Pickle has come home, and The Wife has gone to work - I haven’t really had any time that was truly ‘Mine’ . . . unless you count locking yourself in a library for two weeks to produce 120 professionally written pages ‘a break’. I don’t, but we've all got a different strain of masochistic pleasure. So run with it. You be you.


So in planning my Saturday, I looked back into the excursions of my youthful free days (all those months ago), and although the season is wrong I could think of nothing better than to pack up my waders, fly rods, and go stand in a river for a couple of hours to ‘find myself’.

Yes, Pickle’s Papa is a fly fisherman - or at least a collector of amazingly overpriced gear that would facilitate the faking of such a hobby.

The truth is I don’t fish to actually catch any fish. I fly fish for an excuse to stand in a river for hours on end – waving a hook about myself to keep random strangers from getting too close to engage me in conversation. I have never caught ‘the big one’, nor do I think I would know what to do if I even hooked him.

This is somewhat surprising as we live very near the ‘Rocky River’. It’s just west of us, and is home to some of the best Steel-Head fishing on the Great Lakes. For those of you who don’t know ‘Steel-Head’ are the Salmon of the Great Lakes, and travel up into the bigger rivers to spawn. They usually do this in Spring and Fall. It is neither of those.

I did however have a goal for the day, and over a thousand dollars in gear to justify that I must know what I’m doing.

As it turns out – I didn’t really need to pack my stuff up at all, because another of my equally tranquil life experiences comes from the simple act of driving itself, and I thought with gas prices so low – who needs to go fishing? I started driving in the morning, and saw what I think I can safely say was most of Northern Ohio by the time I finally got home.

I’m not talking interstate driving either. I was just haphazzardly turning down whatever road looked intriguing and taking it until I accidentally figured out where I was. I had a blast, and I think I figured some stuff out too. What, I’m not really sure of - but I do know that I have slept a lot better since then, and I’ve been a lot less nervous whenever anybody holds the baby. I did get a sunburn on one arm – but I guess that’s the price you pay.

So there you go.

The Wife has decided that this is something she wants to do on a regular basis now. I suppose that means I am actually going to have to get out of the car in the future to do something, but I think it’s a good plan. It will help to keep us both much more in touch with what’s important – balance.

Pickle’s Papa