August 14
We've been out fishing a few times since we've been in the trailer, and we did so again this morning – and the difference this time out is that someone actually caught something! Granted, the fish was only about three inches long (so it got let go afterwards), and I'm not even sure what kind it was – but Kíli was very proud to have reeled it in, nonetheless!
Gimli, though, got very down in the dumps about it. He sat hard on the pier, threw his pole down, hung his head, then pointed at himself and said, "This is the face of failure!".
Turns out both he and Kíli saw the little fish swimming around under the dock, and they'd both claimed that they were going to be the one to catch it. And Kíli actually felt pretty bad about it, though at first he had been pleased with himself. After all, he'd gone fishing many times out where he lives, and he'd caught a lot of fish in that time. But Gimli had never been fishing before going out with us, and so he'd never caught anything in his life – and he wanted very much to get at least one before going back to New York.
We all felt bad for him, of course, but really what then could we do? We went back to the trailer and he sunk into his spot on the table-bed (which we have yet to fix), and he proceeded to play his games on his iPad. Lunch was hamburgers on the grill, and that seemed to perk him up some; then we had ice cream, and that helped a bit more. And Kíli was trying his best to apologize, though it really was just chance that he caught the fish. Gimli told him, at least, that he wasn't mad at him, really, but that he has just felt so out of place out in the country and wanted to do something right out here.
So a little while later, we had him call his parents; and after telling them about the fish disappointment, he went on to more pleasant subjects (his frog buddies were what he spoke of the most). And when he got off the phone with them, he challenged Kíli to a game of chess, and we've not heard another word about "the face of failure" since!
I can understand where he is coming from, really. I have felt a bit out of my element out here, as well. Seems that none of us really know what we're doing, and that we're just faking it until we make some semblance of sense of what we are doing. Much like parenthood, I suppose.