Life on the water

My Days begin with early mornings drinking coffee and reading the paper, watching the outside the windows grow brighter by the minute. I pack my cooler, maybe tie some flies, and mentally prepare myself for the day. I notice the tan lines of my feet growing brighter and brighter with each day as I pour another cup of coffee. I kiss my wife goodbye and head to the gas station, and as usual no one is there. I fill my truck up without even looking how much it costs, who cares anyway nothing I can do about it. I try to scrape the bugs off of my windshield again with the window wash. It never completely works no matter how much time I take, there are always a few smudges left joining the rock chips and cracks that I look past on my way to the river. Most days I listen to my Ipod as I speed out of Helena and through the canyon towards the small, but busy town of Craig. On the way to the river the songs that play remind me of all sorts of things, my family, my friends, clients I once had, a break down in the middle of nowhere... Then reality sets again as I exit the highway into the mess of people from all over the globe who have come to Montana to fish for trout on the Missouri River. They scurry around town like ants, looking for their guides, or trying to milk some information from the shops before they head out on their own. Some stumble around like ants with major hangovers. Coffee, cigarettes, sunglasses, drift boats. Lots of khaki and light blue or sage clothing adorns those on the go. I hook up my boat from the row of guide boats parked outside the shop, head nods exchanged to those people I know. Curious glances exchanged with those I don't. Time ticks by quickly as we wait for our clients to show. Small talk and reports from yesterday drown the silence. I notice a caddis fly fluttering by and landing on the windshield of another truck, adorned with the smudges of fallen caddis comrades. It doesn't seem to notice the corpses plastered in peaceful rest, and moves on looking for another caddis to mate with. I inwardly smile at how much it reminds me of some fishing guides I know.