In my early teens, my family and I lived in Alaska. Five glorious years of outdoors of the most exquisite kind. This is a shot of one of our favorite camping spots, Long Lake. See the little bit of land at the bottom of the lake? That was the campground. The lake was our playground.
Camping was something I think all of us looked forward to every year. I should maybe say, I know my brother and I did for sure, my sister too young to wander to far from camp still. My mom? I don't know, still having to cook, clean, house keep for us all, just on a smaller scale, the housekeeping part at least. The cooking...not so much, we ate like kings on those camping trips. Tang, moon pies, Chicken In a Biskit crackers with squirt cheese and so much more....heaven. My dad? Yes, he was on vacation, but he worked his butt off to make sure we were always comfortable and safe and saw as much of Alaska as our car and camper could take us to.
Camping trips always included fishing. Big time fishing for my dad and brother. For me, smaller fish and something I learned to love to participate in. My own pole, tackle box, baiting my own hooks, cleaning my own fish and then one year, I was gifted with my own pair of waders. It changed my fishing world. No longer confined to the bank, I was able to wade the streams and lake shores....in a word....waders were freedom.
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When I made the move to Ruidoso, one of the things on my "to do" list was to take up fishing again. The Rio Ruidoso just outside our door isn't a deep stream, but the call of freedom from the bank was to strong to resist, I needed to be able to step in the stream and not be satisfied with standing on the bank. I wanted the freedom of waders again. I compromised. Wading boots.
I'm also realizing the boots are symbolic of other freedoms that I was seeking by making this monumental move to the "wild". I'm discovering those freedoms in little bits and pieces as the work world is finally falling off my shoulders and I have the chance to look up and around me once again. Freedom to go in to the "wild" with my boots on. To step in to the stream of life again. To wade from the confinements of the shore. To enjoy "wader" freedom again. Magical.
