My youngest grandson is obsessed with fishing. He has no problem putting the worm on a hook, neither casting nor later, after reeling in his catch, taking the hook carefully out of the fishes’ mouth before throwing it back into the water. There is no denying the joy he experiences while practicing the art of catching fish. One day this past August, I took him into the city of Brighton, Michigan to a favorite spot for young fishermen. Alongside and over the meandering river and wetland in the center of town, walkers have easy access to bridges and paths lined by geranium filled pots … a peaceful setting. But, fishing with Cameron, is not a “Norman Rockwell” event, but instead, he is an aggressive tracker of fish. His actions bring to mind Billy, the young boy Norman Thayer (Henry Fonda) in “On Golden Pond” taught how to fish as they pursued the “big fish” Walter.
On this particular summer day, Cameron caught sight of a “humongous” (his word) catfish. Once the fish was in his line of vision, there was no stopping the chase. We were up and down the walkway with the fish controlling our stride. At the top of the bridge, I peered over the handrail admiring the size of the fish (since it had momentarily paused) while Cameron quickly dropped his line in the water.
“Grandma,” he said, “I’m having a heart attack.”
“What?”
“A heart attack,” he repeated. “Every time I see that fish my heart beats so hard I think I’m having a heart attack.”
I wanted to laugh but he was so serious that I managed to keep my emotion hidden. I realized that the moment, him sharing his truth, was a privilege – special.
You may be wondering how this fishing story connects to my past week of Physics? My basic algebra skills were learned years ago and long forgotten. I have had serious doubts if I would ever catch on to the abstractness of letters representing numbers. Each time I tried to work the math conversions and computations, I tensed up. During this past week, I went twice for tutoring at the library spending a couple of hours each session. I also reread the beginning chapters of the text and completed the questions and experiments at the end of each section. My last thoughts before sleep included words like velocity, acceleration, speed, time, scientific notation, all swirling in the murky waters before dozing off.
Today, I finished two pages of physics story problems. I was able to work every formula. I actually plugged the correct calculations in the right order to solve two pages of math. I have a dear friend who teases me when I make a life mistake by reminding me that even a fish can’t get caught if it does not open its’ mouth. Well, apparently some part of my brain has opened; for the moment, I’ve caught the physics fish.
“Good God! It’s Walter!” *
My heart is thumping like a “heart attack”.
From “On Golden Pond” 1981:
“Good God! It's Walter!
What the hell you doin' here, you son of a bitch?
Oh! Keep that line tight, boy!
Oh, you beauty. Keep your line tight.
Keep reeling in.
Little closer. Little closer. Oh, look at that!”
From your photo I see that you are a mature woman. As an author and blogger, it is clear you are a communicator. I am struck by your dear friend's advice of keeping your mouth closed. I don't know what type of life mistake is avoided by such advice, unless you are prone to putting your foot into your open mouth, which I have seen absolutely zero evidence of in these blogs. The importance of open communication, i.e. an open mouth, is paramount in all human endeavor. Your blog performs that function admirably. I wonder if your friend's advice was offered in high school.
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