Caroline is carefree but wily, keenly adept at manipulating others with breezy charm and false enthusiasm. She is no loner, no solitary brook trout content in her pool. When I reel her in, I often realize that she has landed me. She is the real fisher in this family, the consummate player, the one who is most attuned to the whims and needs of others. And then there is Charlie who, still young, has enthusiasm and energy for all things.
Every offering is worth a nibble and often a lunging strike.
And once hooked, he is capable of a great fight, banging his head against his head against the river bottom to dislodge an unwanted barb or running underneath the boat to tangle the line. He is a fisherman's dream, a hot streak of quicksilver, giving the fight of his life on every cast. And then I think of other fishermen I have met over the years, their voices carrying clearly from a far shore, or perhaps I remember hearing just a whisper of encouragement at my side in the kitchen. They were unexpected visitors who pushed me into deeper currents before I knew I was ready, who used all the guile of an old angler to make me put up a good fight. And, as I sit on the rocky shore, I watch each of my children and hope that they, too, will hear a voice, one that speaks to them about deeper currents.