Diary: First Day of Fishing Season Blues & How To Beat Them

Diary: First Day of Fishing Season Blues & How To Beat Them
*Written at the beginning of the 2022 season, yet still applies!
Today* is the first day of spiny lobster season in California, and I am currently writing to you from an empty house. The emotions are a mix of highs and lows, and although I am alone, I am not alone with my feelings because we get each other. (The number one way of getting through the weirdness is knowing there are plenty of POCFs who can relate!) With this in mind, here we go…
Our spiny lobster season started like this: I’ve been out of town for a week with family, and on my last day in NY, Chris texted that his deckhand had quit after only six days.
Great.
I panicked at the thought of Chris fishing alone but painstakingly calmed myself because there was absolutely nothing I could do. As a control freak, I tend to take over, and after seven years of being with a fisherman, I considered it my first step in a looooooong journey of letting go when it comes to Chris’s job. Instead of wigging, I said a prayer.
I get back to our house in California just before midnight on Monday. Chris left on Tuesday at four in the morning, and I haven’t seen him since. He’s expected for dinner tonight – no idea when – and maybe, if we’re lucky, a quick cuddle on the couch before he passes out to leave at four in the morning again.
We’re passing ships in the night; half-asleep kisses are the only real connection we’ve had. Although the spiny lobster fishery is local – compared to a very long distance when he fishes Bristol Bay, Alaska – the rush of a season creates a strange detachment that makes you feel miles apart even when you’re sleeping inches away.
Here’s a DM from a POCF in England who’s been through the same thing: (more…)