Willis and Adria

03.30.09 8:29am

Will I be able to afford to fly fish in retirement? Perhaps…

By talking about hobbies as a retirement issue, I hereby declare myself guilty of pounding a round peg into a square hole [so I'm reaching for a bigger hammer at this very moment], but leisure spending is important, and retirees' "theoretically" have plenty of leisure time... no?  yes?  I want to enjoy my retirement.

Even in the middle of the recession, I'm going to dare dream of retirement.   First off, in order to retire, you have to be alive to do so, and that means building a strong mind and body before you retire - this avoids the alternative - retiring as a feeble mind and body.  Yes, I exercise and watch my weight, but that is for another blog, this blog is to attest to the attributes of the hobby of fly fishing.   Aside from beekeeping and gardening, few other activities have yielded so much zest for life.  Travel a few minutes in any direction from the Willamette valley and you will be standing in some of the most beautiful water in the world.   As I enter this water my heart pounds with excitement, not in so much in the hope of catching a fish, but in the sear joy of standing in the middle of an untamed wild.

I cast my fly onto the water and anticipate a strike.  And know this, it is in the "anticipation" and the accompanying "anxiety" of a fish strike that offer the greatest pleasure.   Interestingly, catching fish can become boring if too many find the end of my hook in too short a span. It is when I have entered ice cold water for hours with aching arms an empty stomach as the sun begins to  set deep shadows,  I cast one last time onto the trailing water of a deep pool... POW!  The water erupts as a hungry rainbow thrusts his body from the river floor launching a foot into air with my fly in the corner of his mouth... a fight is on.  You see, I have anticipated and dreamed of this all day, now terror is coupled with pure excitement as I wrestle with the wild fish (I gently release all of my fish).

It is in the water that I find yet another reason to live... but not only to live - to live fully with joy.  And that is why we so desperately yearn to get out of debt and prepare for the good life of wild retirement.

Willis