Old Loves and New Relationships

Fishing. My first love. I never thought I would find anything that would grab my attention more than fishing. Then I discovered fly fishing and holy shit did I fall hard. All my spare time, spare money, spare thoughts went to fly fishing. Between new rods, new reels, new waders, a large arsenal of tying materials and anything else remotely fly fishing related that caught my eye, my bank account never quite grew as fast as it should have. I didn't really care though. I was young, single, had a good job and not real worried about the future. I had talked to my friends about just buying an assortment of hunting dogs and building a small house and living out my life hunting and fishing in solitude. Then came Alice.

Early this June I saw this beautiful girl in the office of the building I do maintenance at. I asked a coworker who she was and once I heard her name I recognized her. She was Alice Neidiffer. We had a mutual friend so I made a mental note to ask about her next time I saw him. Well, that day came and I made some comment about her and he told me to go for it. Unbeknownst to me, that ended up not being a private conversation and he told her I was interested. So I did that thing you do these days when you are interested in someone. I added her on Facebook and followed her on Instagram

I had a plan to ask her on a date but before I could do that I got a message on Facebook. She asked me out to dinner. After triple checking that the message actually was from her, I said yes and thus began the greatest thing that's ever happened to me.

We started dating and things got serious and I was left with a dilemma. I still had this urge to go fly fishing but I had an even greater urge to spend as much time as possible with this woman. It worked out well that I worked 4 days a week and she worked 5 so I had an extra day off but even on these days I still had a hard time enjoying fishing when all I could think about was her.

It did help my dilemma that fishing wasn't very good. Just like last summer, we were plagued with low salmon returns and long streaks of hot and dry weather. So my urge to go fishing was lowered by the frustration of slow days but I still had that urge to spend all my time with her and I had still had that extra day off when she was working. I found out pretty quick that sitting around doing nothing but thinking about her was going to drive me crazy so I started forcing myself to go fishing just so I could get out of the house and take my mind off things.

These forced outings weren't nearly as enjoyable as other trips but I lucked into a couple fish and was able to stay sane (relatively). This is how the summer went. I would spend my time away from her forcing myself to be productive and get out fishing.

Then came the dreaded school year. Alice had to go back to Utah to continue her college education. We decided long before she left that we would do whatever it took to make our relationship work. I knew it would be hard but I also knew that I had fly fishing to keep me busy. I spent a lot of time out on streams but I ran into the same dilemma as before, just a little different. All I wanted to do was spend all my spare time on the phone or on skype with her. Obviously this isn't possible so I just kept forcing myself to go out and try and not let life stop because she was gone. Luckily I have a couple of good friends and a great family that is very supportive of us and also enjoys fishing so that helped. Having someone else out there with me made it much easier to keep my mind focused on something other than the fact that I just wanted to be with Alice.

Between when she left in mid-August and now, I have made 4 trips to see her and have another 5 planned before she gets home next April. These trips seem to coincide really well with prime fishing times. My fishing partners are both shocked and a little upset that I would choose a trip to Utah over fly fishing. They wonder if she has replaced fly fishing for me. The truth is she has in a way but in a good way. I will never stop fly fishing, she is very supportive of me going fishing and doesn't want me to change. She also hasn't been with me during steelhead season yet so that may change but I will be ok with that.

I haven't fallen out of love with fly fishing, I have just fallen in love with something, or rather someone, else that has taken the majority of my focus and that makes me happier than I ever thought I could be.