Do You Know Where Your Library Card Is?

I don’t remember my first time. I don’t think a lot of people do. I do remember when it became a flagship for this person that speaks to you today. I'd say it was around the third or fourth grade when I really found my stride. My ship left the docks to farther regions.

I would beg my mother to order me this and that. And she would, not everything I wanted, but enough to keep me hungry. The ship stalled a bit in middle school because sea life wasn’t for everybody, and I wanted to be a part of everybody, so I joined the masses... "Ships are stupid... you’re a dork if you like sailing…" so on and so forth. 

 

Once I reached high school I found my sea legs once again, but I would only set sail under the cover of dark, covert, underneath the radar. Then things changed drastically. Suddenly the ship was sinking. But I grabbed my survival buoy and kept afloat. Luckily I was saved by a salty sea goer along with his mother. They reeled in my buoy and brought me aboard their ship. Low and behold they were the best sailors I had met thus far in my journeys. They re-introduced me to the boat house which i had forgotten about during my days in middle school. I returned to that boat house with a vengeance during my later years of high school, me and my sea faring friend were deep sea fishing, reeling in whatever we wanted. 

Unfortunately during that time (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) I put fishing over my school work. I'll never forget, keep in mind I would show up to class with nothing but a fish, and my teacher would ask me, “would you care to dissect the frog that the rest of the class has prepared to dissect ?” I would respond, “no maam”? I would show her my frog which was not a frog at all to which she would respond, “’All the Kings Men’, I love that fish what are you doing fishing in those type of waters? The assignment was to dissect a frog”. My response would be: “Well Miss whoever the fuck, I like fish, not frogs, I do not care what is on your menu for dissection”.  This reaction would inevitably lead me to the Game Warden, where I would be reprimanded for my insubordination. 

Well needless to say I have kept fishing. From my humble observation, fishing has come all but obsolete; everyone chooses to dissect frogs nowadays. But I continue to fish, the same way all my fisherman heroes did back in the good old days when having a fishing license meant something. So as I finish this piece, I leave you with one question: do you know where your library card is?

Peaces and Creases