The Excellent Adventure

Meanwhile, back in Puerto Rico, a comment I made to Marc stuck. We were talking about how the boys were steadily acting out more and more, and I mentioned that no one had asked them to come, no one had gotten their permission to drag them on airplanes, on boats, back and forth on docks, in places where they weren’t necessarily comfortable or interested, and I was really impressed that they’d been as cool as they had. I could see the gears in Marc’s head turning.

And the very next day, he offered to take Rowan fishing. I don’t think he knew it was Rowan’s first fishing trip; he might have been intimidated away from doing it, otherwise. But he packed up, and they took off, fairly early in the morning.

	The fishing spot was a quiet little bay just down from the marina. You can see that on that day, there was no wind, no waves, no boat traffic; just fish.
Apparently they hung out together pretty much the whole time, companionably, waiting for the fish to bite.
	…And taking photos of some of the wild iguanas that happened by their spot.
It took me looking at this picture several times to spot both animals.
	The big moment: That first fish! I am totally impressed that Marc remembered the camera.
And here’s the catch up close.

So there’s the pictorial evidence of the First Fishing Trip. They brought the fish back to the boat, cleaned and filleted it, which both fascinated and repelled Rowan. I stayed far away, and managed to plaster the “happy mommy face” on every time Rowan asked about it. Proud of the accomplishment, can’t stomach fish cleaning. Unfortunately, we left the next day, and weren’t able to eat Rowan’s catch ourselves. But the delivery crew appreciated it.

Rowan’s now decided that he can supply us with fish to eat, once we’re on our boat. Marc’s teaching him about poles, about casting, about hooks and lures. It’s the beginning of a beautiful thing.

Tags: Fishing, Puerto Rico, Rowan, Talking Story

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