Streamside Therapy

My husband and I normally make a pretty solid team.  My weaknesses are his strengths, and vice versa.  We can usually pick each other up when we're feeling down, but last week we discovered what our kryptonite is:  a dying pet.   With heavy hearts, we said goodbye to Jeffrey last Saturday.

Jeffrey was not your ordinary cat.  He had a lot of special quirks that made him quite amazing, and we're certain we'll never have another companion like him.  Most people who've lived with pets understand how important they can become to you and what an integral role they can play in a household.  Jeffrey was that way.  He was a little guy with a huge personality, and we'll greatly miss his company. 

We've thankfully now arrived at the acceptance stage of our grieving process, but it was touch-and-go for a few days.  After a long period of mourning together, we each chose different ways to dispel our sadness and head down the path towards the sunnier side of life once again.  My husband buried himself in work (partly out of necessity), while I chose streamside therapy.


I was very thankful for the chance to head to the Driftless with a couple good fishing partners the day after Jeffrey was sent to the Great Beyond.  There's nothing like a day on the water to put things in perspective and to refocus your mind on the things that make life good.  The day was the epitome of spring:  warm breezes, blue skies, the smell of rotting humus, and green shoots peeking through mats of dead grass.  There were also the sounds of cranes flying overhead, returning from their southern wintering grounds, and red-wing blackbirds marking their territories in the stubbled fields. 

As the sun sank closer to the horizon, with only the sounds of the breeze blowing and birds singing, we enjoyed some cold beer and watched the tell-tale rings form on the shimmery surface of the stream below.

If that's not a Zen moment, I don't know what is.  Though I'm still catching phantom glimpses of our lost companion multiple times each day, and though I miss him tremendously, my streamside therapy somehow provided closure.  Maybe it was the trance-like state I found myself in while fishing up enticing runs, the refreshing blast of spring air for eight straight hours, the soul-cleansing flow of water, or the good company on the stream.  More than likely it was a combination of many things.....including friends who care enough to send flowers. 

Thanks, Katie and Janie :)