The Annual Disconnect

Every fly fishing season there is a disconnect from social norms. If you are in the fly fishing industry, you'll know what I mean. Every day a new customer walks into your shop, guides host new guests, or, if you're in the lodge business, there's a million facets added in running a shop, guide service, hotel, restaurant, and boat servicing all rolled under one roof. The hours are incredibly long. The season starts out innocently enough. Days are booked up and while we get to see the early rounds of NHL or NBA playoffs, we're nowhere to be seen come the semi finals or finals. Friends call and our ability to get back to them falls off the charts, and by the end of June, we're simply into our daily routine of our dusk til dawn insular worlds based on how we cope with the long hours and provide the best opportunities to our guests. From May through early October, connection with friends and family is tough. Developing relationships is almost impossible given dedication to guests, rather, the focus is on maintaining our core relationships, reaching out to others as we go, and hopefully laying friendly foundations to new friends at some point in the season. When you're up at 4 or 6 am and getting to bed at 11pm to 1am, this industry can consume 7/12 of your year. It's a good life, but it is consuming.

The difficulty comes when something dramatic occurs. Recently, my brother in law has been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer, mastesicized to his liver, consuming his small intestine. He has been in hospital for 2 weeks and can't even hold down water. They can't remove the tumor as it is simply too consuming and the stent put in to get him nutrition has been choked off by the aggressively growing tumor. This weekend he'll undergo bi-pass surgery to eliminate the small intestine from the digestive track. They can't remove the tumor since it is so fast growing and given what it's attacking, his body wouldn't have the energy to heal. The surgery is to provide perhaps a few weeks to be with his wife and kids.
Another friend lost his father while hosting a fly fishing trip recently. He was on an extended trip with people and found out about the passing a few days ahead of the end of the trip. There was no choice but to complete the trip with so many people depending upon him. That's the nature of what we do. Put aside our situation for the betterment of others.

In both cases above, there's a surreal aura. Is this really happening? Here we are hosting fly fishing, immersing ourselves in the fantasy world escape of fly fishing, and yet we're somehow to connect with reality and realize that this stuff is really happening. The seasonal insular worlds we create to get us through the season, providing our guests the best vacation we can... surrounded by happy people and fishing, the long hours and our means of coping... suddenly we have to connect that these realities are happening to our loved ones. It's tough.

I know that even for Amelia & I, we love to develop our relationship. We love to explore each others thoughts, develop our talents, seek out new things in our lives. It's difficult to do so when we're consumed by what we do. We've been in the industry for 15 years, we know what to expect and continue on. We've matured ourselves on not fretting the temporary busy-ness from day to day. We take the time to try to connect daily, regardless if 1am becomes 2am, to allow each other time to decompress, to share something about ourselves. It's the month to month ins and outs that we have had to look at and take time to ensure we connect with each other. We choose time to connect and see how each other is, what thoughts we've each had, to look forward and try to have a plan of what we're to do when it's us time again. And yet, somehow, we try to remain connected to the world outside of our reality... the one where friends and family care, where their lives unfold and develop... where we try to ensure they know we're here. It's an interesting balance for sure. And, for anyone not in the industry, one that is almost impossible to maintain a balance in, given the seasonality of it and the financial realities the lifestyle.

Just sharing.