I used to stop at Great River Park on my way to work. I was always an hour or more early for work, but stopping at the park, relaxing by the river helped me get ready for a long day behind a desk. One of my coworkers used to worry about my stopping there. She felt there might be dangerous people in the park at that hour. For the most part, the only people I ever ran into were fishermen getting ready to start fishing.
I don’t fish, so I can’t speak for all fishermen, but I’ve never met a fisherman or woman in this park who wasn’t willing to answer a question and have a conversation. I’ve asked them what they were hoping to catch. I’ve asked them about their gear. They’ve asked me about my job (while I was still working), my hobbies and the pictures I’ve been taking.
Last week, the park was flooded. It’s OK, the park is designed to flood. The park is built on the west side of a several miles long levy. The park floods, the city of East Hartford doesn’t. Some days, the park is closed. When the water reaches, or is expected to reach a level that will flood the parking lot. When I was there last week, the water had begun to recede and the park was open. I walked around, took a few pictures, and saw a few fishermen. I talked to one for a while. I asked where he’d be fishing, given that the water was very high up on the banks. I loved his answer:
“With the banks flooded, there’s a lot of new ground the fish have never seen. I’m hoping some of the fish feel like exploring today.”
This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner, and would like to join in on the fun, you can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants.
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