Gone Swimming

"Fishing has its ups and downs. You reach an unexplainable high after catching an 'I think you're the one' fish, and end up feeling low and exhausted when you both realize, 'Hey, we got way much ahead of ourselves. Let's both go back to the sea.' Exhausting I say."
~ Gone Fishing, Young blood, Philippine Daily Inquirer

Project:Live

(I writethis as a riposte to Gone Fishing, a Young Blood article written for PhilippineDaily Inquirer published last September 24, 2010.)

    Mom and Dad and I were having our typical dinner one Friday night when Dadasked, "When are you getting married?" "Hmm, I might not...” Isaid, jesting me and my sisters might have caught 'The jinx of the TresMarias.' 

     Dad has three aunts, siblings they were, who lived as old maids; and because we are also three girls in the family, I jokingly said, "Their jinx mighthave passed onto us!"

    In a world where women outnumber men, fishes for a fisherman, it should be easy for them to catch any fish considering the large amount of choices they have. Some cast out many from huge nets and reject the bad ones. Some cast through hooks, patiently waiting for a good fish to lure. Most fishes easily get attracted to an enticing fat worm on bait, but a very few are very careful enough not to fall from the allure of the juicy worm masking a deadly hook that is going to tear their gills.

     I, unfortunately, am one of the very few careful fishies. Picky? No. Careful it is.

     Most men win the hearts of girls by 'suiting up' - them all dressed up, giving exuberant flowers and gifts, bragging their vessels (cars, cribs, etc), wine and dine them girls, composing the most romantic of poetry, and the list goes on. But most men too would want to suit up for a specific girl worthy of their catch - beautiful tall chinita girls, preferably rich too, on body-tight sexy red dresses. Or the like, those presentable on the outside. How about other girls, those whose characters are far more attractive than skinny tights?


     I know how these guys take their toll too to prove to girls how worthy they are of a catch and a lot of them girls will practically dig in to these (oh yes, especially with your vessels guys), but for the very few girls too whose hearts have been torn by the hooks from past fishings, this 'suit up' game rarely works.
 
     I am no new gamer in this fishing game needless to say. I have been lured by two fishermen. They braved the vast ocean looking for me too aboard a little boat. They simply brought a fishing rod, carefully choosing the fattest worm, and waited patiently for me to be attracted on the bait. My eyes glittered at the sight of the worm and took a bite. The fishermen spun their reels thinking they got the good catch. But as soon as they got a hold on me, their grips were not tight enough to keep me and I go slipping right out of their hands and I return to sea, waiting for them to cast the bait again but in vain. Disappointingly, they rowed to another part of the sea, changing their fishing gears and aboard a larger vessel hoping to find what they think will be a better catch than me; And I am left in the ocean with wounds from the piercing hooks and wait for them to heal again before chancing upon another worthy simple fisherman.

     So yes, all this catch-and-miss feels so low and painful and exhausting. We go out - both fishermen and rejected fishies - braving the sea again wondering if we can ever get a chance on landing good catches, those better than the first ones. 'Til then, I swim endlessly to elude other fishermen.

     Either time is my friend or foe at this point. I need all the time I have to heal these deep wounds from the hooks. But pressures from the people around me tell me I am not getting any younger, especially that I am the girl. I should be caught by a fisherman soon, they say, before the jinx catches me!