Decades

Decades

Andy Dear | Monday, 15 August 2022

"Is there a cure among us, from this processed sanity. I weaken with each voice that sings. Now, in this world of purchase, I'm going to buy back memories.... to awaken some old qualities"

---From the Track 'Run" by Collective Soul

  It's always been interesting to me how we divide cultural time frames into "decades". The 1950s...1960s, 70s, etc...Each one had its own flair and flavor for music, politics, art, and sports. And, from what I can tell, regardless of what decade(s) you hold dear, a common trait we all share is a sense of nostalgia surrounding the decades of our younger years.

  Last night I found myself in one of these highly nostalgic moods that had me reminiscing about the 1990s, which happened to be the decade where I really started to figure out who I was. Numerous relationship breakups and heartaches aside, the 90s was the decade where I made the transition out of my delusions of grandeur of being a musician, to that of pursuing some sort of career, even if only part-time in angling.

  When I started my first company in 1997 building custom rods, my employer allowed me to use a small office in the front of our building that wasn't being used, so that I could build rods after hours and on weekends. Just last week, my tenure of over two decades with that same corporatton came to an abrupt end when the company went out of business due to the ongoing global microchip shortage and supply chain issues. Sadly, I found myself having to round up personal belongings, and having to begin to explore whatever comes next in my career path. During that process, I spent some time in that small room by myself where I started Lamar Fishing, pondering all of the sweat equity, late nights, and most importantly, all of the good memories that were the result of what came out of that little 100-square-foot office space.

 Later that evening I was on my nightly mountain bike ride, and almost as if by divine providence, the youtube algorithm decided it needed to throw some 90s music into my supposed "random rotation". One of those happened to be a track by the rock band Collective Soul titled "Run". Ironic that Run just happened to be one of the regular tracks I played in my portable CD player back in that little shop. I can remember very vividly wrapping rods well past midnight with this track blasting through the speakers. I tend to be a pretty emotional guy, and the timing of that song forced me to actually pull off the trail for a bit and sit on the bank of the Guadalupe river, and just allow the memories and emotions that were sparked by the music of that "decade" wash over my grey matter for a few minutes.

  It's strangely beautiful how the human mind can process several emotions at one time. Those memories make me mostly very happy but are always laced with a tinge of melancholy that I can't necessarily explain. Maybe it's because they are now 25 years in the past, and as we all know, we can't go back and relive them a second time. Maybe it's because for most of us the fishing was A WHOLE LOT better back then. Or maybe it's simply because we are hardwired to feel these types of emotions about events that brought us so much joy earlier in our lives when things seemed simpler and more innocent. Maybe those emotions are there for a reason...so that we are motivated subconsciously or otherwise to continue to pursue simple acts like fishing well, into the latter stages of our lives to feel those same feelings that we did when we were younger and less burdened by the complexities of life that always seem to come as a byproduct of getting older.

Whatever the case, the 1990s was THAT decade for me. And, it is my great hope that anyone reading this has been fortunate enough to make those same kind of memories in their angling lives that allow them to look back with the same sense of reverence and nostalgia that I do, on what many are now calling "the last great decade".

For your 1990s nostalgic listening pleasure, I give you RUN, by Collective Soul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPu8SiwjtTg


Hope you all are having a great week,

Andy