Changes

Anyone over a certain age knows that life, if anything, is a series of changes. Just when you think you know what's going on things change. Such is life in the Wood house and at J Wood Fly Fishing. The past few years have presented one challenge and change after another as I have tried to build a brand and some type of presence in the fly fishing world. This while moving around chasing doctors to find one that could fix a failing knee implant. All the while trying to build something that has never been clear what it is. Are you confused yet? Well I am, or at least I was until clarity set in.

The knee is fixed so now where do we go from here both geographically and otherwise? That's always the real question whether you're trying to change things up or just standing still.

The thing is, going through the changes that have come our way the last few years has brought a certain level of clarity. Some days at least it feels like clarity and others the edges are still a bit fuzzy, but not nearly as muddled as past vision. Then again things didn't seem so muddled until the epiphany struck. That's just how an epiphany works. It came like a car crash out of the blue and just when I thought everything was under control. Just like the incident when I pulled out in front of a large truck coming round a blind corner. There it was out of nowhere moving at 75 miles per hour and not a damned thing to be done to stop it. Wham! Shit hit the fan and when the dust settled the world was no longer the same. The difference between a car wreck and an epiphany is the epiphany just keeps coming, at least this one did. Ignoring it is not an option but following through isn't as easy as it might seem.

When I was younger the world was my oyster. All I had to do, all any of us has to do is just shuck it. The only hitch is the big picture gets in the way. You know that big picture don't you? The one we begin feeding on from the time We come of age. It gets hold of our conscience and starts telling us about stuff, possessions and money, the American Dream! As it turns out some of us just aren't cut out for that. Sure it worked out fine on TV for the Cleaver family but this isn't TV and few of us are Cleavers. So what's the solution? Rewind, regroup and restart.

You may be asking at this point, if you haven't dosed off. "What's the big epiphany?" The simple answer is this, the world is our oyster. That is the first part anyway. The second part is you can not start a new life while towing the old one along. It weighs you down and impedes growth. But here's the tricky part. How do we shed that old life and all the dead weight that comes with it? As it turns out it's easier said than done but not that hard if you just do it! Just do it! Just do it! Just do it! Just do it!

No that's not me stuttering it's the voice in my head and out loud saying it over and over as I/we shed our excess possessions; all those things we have accumulated over the years that have shaped our self image and perceptions of those around us as well as where we fit in. On close examination change is long overdue in a big way.

Big Adventure

To say I have been slacking at blogging of late is a real understatement. What I haven't been slacking at is getting ready for relocating away from Colorado Springs. The first question people ask when I say we're leaving is "Where are you headed?". The answer to that is a bit tricky, but the short version is we are not quite sure just yet. Somewhere in the Pacific Northwest is the front runner. Beyond that it's up in the air.

Here's where the conundrum comes into play. Kind of like the old Green Acres TV series Sharon and I have slightly different ideas of Nirvana. Left solely up to her we would live smack in the middle of downtown in some big city. Left solely up to me we would live as far away from said city as possible. We have always had a knack for working these things out in the past. I'll let you know how it works out.

But not so fast! A little traveling is in order first. So if we can ever get the house sale closed (it's not as easy as some would have you believe but I'll leave out that drama) we will be on our way. For years it has been a fantasy of ours to just bee-bop around the country with little specific agenda and see what we can see.

My goal along the way is to fish as many places as possible. Sharon's goal is to see as many sights as possible. From where I sit at the moment the two seem to be coming together nicely. We are both looking forward to many evenings by a fire outside The Hippie Pod sipping cool adult beverages. Now that's the life! Reservations have been made for the first leg of the trip in Arkansas, Panama City, Orlando and Key Largo all of which should provide us with fishing, sight-seeing and lots of evening beverage sipping.

We're pretty stoked about the whole Big Adventure.