Fishing for Stars

A few years ago, Laurie and I went on a snorkeling trip to Belize. It was spectacular there. Beautiful and warm, with water as clear as air, and schools of fish passing like flocks of birds. Starfish on turtle grass

One day we went out with a group of people to a part of the bay that was shallow, maybe five or six feet deep. The ocean bottom was sandy, with patches of turtle grass. The grassy, sandy area was surrounded by coral outcrops. An oasis in the coral.

Laurie snorkeling over coral outcrop

There were big starfish in the sand, scattered all around. The starfish had a rough, sandy, dry feeling to their skins, even though we were underwater. Laurie was fascinated by them.

Laurie with a starfish

When she’d pick them up, she would get so excited that somebody else from the group would come over to see what she was looking at. Invariably she’d reach out and hand them the starfish, and they would end up smiling and laughing before putting it back on the sand.

Giving away a starfish

This happened a couple of times. Laurie would find a starfish, start looking at it, get excited and happy. Each time, somebody would come over to see what she was doing, and each time she’d hand them the starfish to examine.

It was like watching people repeatedly reenact “The Creation of Adam”, that painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam”, from the Sistine Chapel. Photo from Wikimedia.org

It reminded me of a moment on another trip, from years previously.  It was a funny echo in time, back from Laurie’s first visit to New Hampshire.

My Dad took us out in his boat to Portsmouth Harbor. The boat was his pride and joy, and with the chance to take us out in it…well, Dad was in seventh heaven. We were ostensibly fishing for striped bass and bluefish, but it was mostly an excuse for a boat ride. It was a sunny day, with a little bit of a breeze. There was a slight chop to the water, maybe 10 inch waves, and we were moving slowly through the ocean.

We were trolling by a small island that just barely broke the surface of the water. The breaking waves were rolling over the black rocks of the island’s shore, and the air was full of sun and salt.

Dad got a strike, and his rod arched. Laurie and I reeled in our lines, and Dad turned the boat. It was a good fish, and we were all pretty excited.

Then Dad grinned, leaned forward and handed the rod to Laurie, in the same way that Laurie would later pass the starfish to other people. It made Dad happy as can be to give the fish to her. That’s kind of how he was. He was grinning like a jack’o lantern as she played the fish.

Moments like these ones, sometimes I think my heart might burst.