When I Grow Up….. (13/365)

January 13, 2015 – Did you have any idea what you’d be when you grew up?

Well, I haven’t grown up yet, so I’m still exploring everything and enjoying myself as I do so 😉 Why stop now?

One thing I did know, from the time I was little, was that I wanted to be involved in science. When I look back at my elementary report cards…they always say “Paige does very well at science”.

But fish…now that wasn’t an area I ever saw myself in.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved to eat fish. And considering that I was about the pickiest eater around when I was little, the fact that I ate fish and didn’t live near the ocean was a bit amazing. But my Dad fished for lake trout and rainbow trout in the lake our cabin was on outside of Prince George, and we ice-fished for brook trout in the winter. So fish to me was still always fresh caught or fresh frozen. The key word was fresh.

But fish?

Me?

Nope!

I still remember the lake trout my Dad used to catch, sometimes 20lbs or more. Not bad for a freshwater trout, eh? Dad used to carve the cheeks out of them for me and put a little butter and lemon juice on them while he cooked them on the hibachi out at the cabin. Yum!

But I also remember the first time I stuck my little fingers inside the mouth of a particularly big one.

OUCH! They had sharp teeth!

After that I was terrified of the dark waters below, I managed to convince myself that those fish were after my toes when I swam.

(To note, I was also terrified of leeches….it’s a wonder I was a competitive synchronized swimmer for a while.)

Sometimes Dad would take me out fishing in the canoe with him. We’d head out across that big lake and find some spot that spoke to him. He’d bait the hook on his big rod, and then he’d bait my hook on my little tiny rod. And I’d sit there in terror, hoping nothing would bite….and when it eventually did I’d usually scream and throw my rod across the canoe at him!

He’d reel my fish in for me while I waited, club in hand, at my end of the yellow canoe. I was more than willing to kill any fish that got too close.

But I had three aquaria at home, and I loved those colourful little fish that inhabited them. At some point along the line my Dad had a client who started up a fish farm somewhere out towards Sechelt and Dad started to encourage me to think about getting a summer job there. I never did, but it piqued my interest in aquaculture a bit…and several years later I ended up completing a degree in the subject…and then I did two more degrees in fish studies.

Who-woulda-thunk-it? The kid who didn’t like fish (except to eat and look at in aquariums) ended up over-edu-macated in them.

Fish are cool.

I love living by the sea, the ocean provides so many small treasures if you are willing to take the time to look closely around you. And it also provides so much food for thought and so much inspiration.

But I still don’t fish.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

It’s never too late 🙂