March 31, 2026

The Day The Woods Won: Fishing Lines And Seed Ticks

The Day The Woods Won: Fishing Lines And Seed Ticks
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A spring day in the woods turns into a story we’ll never forget—four boys chasing fish, the rest of us hunting morels, and a surprise run-in with seed ticks that changed everything.

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There's something about a spring morning that just hits different.

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And I don't mean that in some fancy poetic way.

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I meet it in the most basic, simple, real way possible.

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You step outside and the air is different. It's not

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just warmer, it's alive, like the whole world took a long,

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deep breath over winter and it's finally letting it out.

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The trees are doing their thing, little green buds pushing through,

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birds making noise, that soft damp smell rising up from

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the ground, the kind of smell that just says spring.

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And on this particular morning, we had a plan. Now,

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I want you to understand something about our family plants.

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They are made with the best intentions in the world.

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They are full of optimism, they are full of excitement,

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and they almost never go exactly the way we think

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they will. But that's kind of the whole point, isn't it.

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The boys, Tristan, Keenan, Gavin and Colin they were going fishing,

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and the rest of us, Jeremy, Me, Maddie, Torren and

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Anelin were going hunting. Not deer, not turkey, something smaller,

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something sneakier, something that half the people we know have

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never even heard of. Morel mushrooms, those little hidden treasures

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that grow in the woods in spring and make you

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feel like the greatest hunter on earth when you find one.

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We load it up. We headed out full of hope,

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full of that good spring energy, and by the time

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the day was over, the boys had one fish and

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the rest of us had a whole lot of seed ticks.

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But honestly, it's one of my favorite stories, and I

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hope once you hear it you'll understand why. Welcome back

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to We are the hans Ends. I'm Maya, and this

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is the show where we tell you the truth about

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family life. Not the highlight real version, not the perfectly

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curated everything looks great version. The real version, the messy version,

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the version where things don't go according to plan, and

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somehow that ends up being the best part. Today's episode

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is about the day that was simple, really truly simple.

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No big travel, no major event, just to drive out

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into the country on a spring morning, a family that's

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split off into two different directions, and a whole lot

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of unexpected moments waiting for us on both sides. It's

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a story about fishing when the fish don't bite, It's

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a story about hunting something you never find. It's a

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story about the woods teaching you a lesson you weren't expecting.

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And more than anything, it's a story about what happens

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when your family just exists together in a real moment,

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on a real day, with mud on your shoes and

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ticks on your legs and laughter in the air. This

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is the day the woods won, and I think by

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the end of it, you're going to feel something. Okay,

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so let me paint you a picture. It's a Saturday

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morning in spring, and if you live anywhere in the

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Midwest or the South, you know exactly what kind of

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Saturday I'm talking about. The kind where it's warm enough

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to be outside, but not so hot that you're already

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miserable by nine am, The kind where the sky is

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that perfect shade of blue that doesn't happen in any

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other season, The kind where every single person in your

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house feels the urge to be somewhere other than on

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the couch, and for our family, that feeling pointed straight

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to one place outside. Jeremy had been talking about this

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trip for a little while, the casual kind of talking

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where he mentions it here and there, and you can

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tell his brain is quietly working out the details, even

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when he's pretending he's not planning anything. He knew where

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a good fishing spot was, he had an idea where

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the morales might be coming up. And he had that quiet,

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patient excitement that dads get when they're about to take

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their kids somewhere they think is going to be great. Now,

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here's the thing about Jeremy and plans like this. He

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doesn't oversell them. He doesn't build it up too big.

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He just says, I think it's going to be a

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good day, and that's enough. That's more than enough, because

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when Jeremy says that, he means it. So. The morning

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of the house had that energy, you know, that one,

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the low buzz of activity that starts before anyone's really

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said a word. Somebody's looking for their shoes, somebody's asking

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where the good fishing poles are. Somebody's already eaten half

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a box of granola bars and calling it breakfast. The boys, Tristan, Keenan,

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Gavin and Colin were something else that morning. I want

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you to understand the level of confidence these boys are

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walking around with. They weren't going fishing, they were going

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to conquer the water. They were going to come home

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with a story. Tristan was checking the tackle box like

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a surgeon checks their tools before operation. Keenan was already

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talking about fish he was going to catch, like it

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was a done deal. Gavin was just kind of vibing,

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doing that thing where he's quiet, but you can tell

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he's fully locked in. Colin. Colin was just happy to

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be there, happy to be going somewhere with everyone. That's

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a beautiful thing about the younger ones. The destination almost

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doesn't matter. Being included is the whole thing. And then

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there was our side of the plant, morell mushrooms. Now

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I need to take us. I can hear and explain

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morels to anyone who hasn't been introduced to them yet,

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because if you've never hunted morells before, the whole idea

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might sound a little strange. A morell is a wild mushroom.

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It grows in the woods in spring, and it doesn't

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grow everywhere. It doesn't grow all the time. It's picky,

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it's secretive. It's the kind of thing that only shows

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up under certain trees, in certain soil, at certain temperatures,

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and even then only for a short window of time.

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People go hunt morells. They take it seriously, like genuinely seriously,

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because when you find them, they're delicious. There's nothing like

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fresh morale, sautate and butter, simple as that, and beyond

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the taste, there's just something about finding something hidden, something

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that requires you to slow down and really look, something

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that rewards patience and attention. And Jeremy grew up around

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this kind of thing. He knows the woods, he knows

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what to look for. He's got that instinct that comes

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from years of being in the trees, years of understanding

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what the land is doing and win. So the plan

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was simple enough. The boys fish, we hunt, everyone meets

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back up, and we go home happy, simple, clean, good plan.

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I want to talk about this drive for a second

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because it was one of those drives, you know, the

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kind where you're not rushing, where there's no specific time.

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You have to be somewhere where the windows are just

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cracked just enough to let the air move through the

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car and everyone's just existing together. Those drives are some

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of my favorite moments. No screens, no distractions, just rod

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In Sky and the people you love most in the

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world crammed in to a vehicle together. The boys were

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already telling stories in their vehicle, already building that mythology

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and the fish they were going to catch. I'm going

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to get a big catfish. How big? Like twenty pounds? Easy?

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I think mine's going to be bigger. You don't even

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have your line in yet. It doesn't matter. I already know.

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And Jeremy was driving and smiling, saying nothing because he's

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heard this song before, he grew up with a brother.

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He knows exactly how this goes, and honestly, he loves it.

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He loves that they believe it. He loves that they're

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still at that age where the story starts before the

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thing even happens, where possibility is the whole point. Matty

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was talking in our car Toorn was doing that thing

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she does where she's half listening and half in her

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own world, but still somehow part of every conversation. Annelin

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was taking it all in. But he's got that quality

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where she just watches everything with this quiet kind of joy,

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like she's storing it away. And me, I was watching

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all over it because that's one of my favorite things

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to do, just watch my family be my family. There's

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this specific joy in watching the people you love just

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be themselves, not performing, not trying, just being exactly who

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they are. Loud when they're loud, quiet when they're quiet,

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funny without knowing they're being funny. Real, that's what those

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drives give you. A front row seat to the people

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who matter most. And you think, hold on to this,

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You think, remember this exactly. The sound of their voices,

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the way Keenan was explaining his fishing strategy to anyone

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who would listen. The way Gavin was just calm and ready.

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The way Colin kept looking out the window like the

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scenery itself was exciting. The way Jeremy had that small,

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permanent smile that meant he was exactly where he wanted

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to be. Hold on to this. The road got narrower

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as we got out of town, houses spaced further apart,

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fields opening up, trees starting to close in on both sides.

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That deep, thick green that only shows up in spring

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before summer burns everything bright, the kind of green that

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almost doesn't look real, like someone turned up a setting.

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We passed a few farms upon with some birds on it,

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a stretch of fence line that went on longer than

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you'd expect, and I just breathed it in all of it,

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and it just felt right. It felt like the kind

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of morning that was going to turn into a story.

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I didn't know yet what kind of story, but I knew.

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We got out to the spot, and you could feel

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the shift and energy the moment everyone got out of

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the car. Fresh air hit different out there, no buildings,

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no traffic sounds, just wind and birds and the distant

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sound of water somewhere through the trees. The boys were

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out the minute that car stopped moving. The boys didn't

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even pause. They were out of the car and moving

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towards the water like it was pulling them, fishing pulls out,

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cackle boxes in hand, already talking strategy, already calling their spots.

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It's one of those things that makes you feel good

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to watch, always with a purpose, always moving towards something

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they love. And Jeremy watched for a second. There was

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something in his face that quiet pride dad's carry when

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their kids are doing something right, something that's good for them,

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something that connects them to the world. He watched them

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walk towards the water, and then he looked towards the

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woods and I could see the switch flop. He was

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now in moral mode. He took a slow look at

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the trees, studying the ground, reading the landscape, thinking about

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soil and shade in the direction of the water. He

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does this thing where he goes quiet and still when

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he's reading the outdoors, like he's listening to something nobody

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else can hear. And then he said, I'm going to

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check over here, and he pointed off to one side.

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He had a feeling about a certain section. And when

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Jeremy has that feeling about the woods, you trust it.

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So we split. Jeremy went his direction and me, Maddie

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torn an Anlin, went ours. Just like that, the day

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had two chapters. Our chapter began quietly. We stepped into

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the woods on our side, and immediately the world changed.

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That's the thing about stepping into the woods that I

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don't think you can fully explain to someone who hasn't

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done it. One step and everything is different. The sound

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is muffled, the light is softer. There's this feeling of

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being wrapped up in something ancient, something that doesn't care

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about your to do list, or your schedule or your worries.

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The wood which just are. And we just walked eyes down, scanning, searching.

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I kept my gaze moving slowly, across the ground in

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front of me, looking for that wrinkled honeycomb shape that

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tells me a morell is there. It's a distinctive look

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once you know it, kind of like a small sponge

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on a stem, brownish tan, blending right into the dead

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leaves and sticks on the forest floor, which is the

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whole challenge. They look like everything else until suddenly they don't,

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until suddenly your brain goes, wait, that's not a stick,

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that's not a leaf, that's a morale, and your heart jumps.

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We spread out just enough to cover more ground, but

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not so far that we couldn't still talk, because that's

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the other thing about morale hunting. It's a social activity

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wrapped inside a quiet one. You're searching, you're focused, but

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you're also together. Maddie was somewhere to my left, moving

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between the trees. She's good at this, patient, methodical she

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just doesn't give up on a spot until she's really

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looked it over. Koran was bouncing around a little more.

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She'd check one area, then drift towards another, following her instinct,

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and Anelin was just beside me, steady, curious, taking everything in.

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Every few minutes, someone would stop is this one, and

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everyone would drift over. We'd all crouch down fear at

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the thing, and nine times out of ten, Nope, just

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a weird piece of bark, just a mushroom that wasn't

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a morale, just our eyes tricking us again. And we'd

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laugh every single time. We'd laugh because it's funny. It's

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funny to want something so badly that you start seeing

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it in everything. The hope becomes its own kind of comedy.

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We covered a good amount of ground, carefully, talking a

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little more quiet, a little just moving through the trees

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together and finding nothing, absolutely nothing. But it was good.

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It was genuinely good. There's something about searching for something

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with other people that brings you close in a very

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specific way, because you're not competing, you're not performing, you're

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just all pointed at the same thing, all hoping for

236
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the same little miracle, and when it does come, you

237
00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:34.399
just shrug and keep walking and talk about something else

238
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for a while, and then you go back to scanning

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00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:40.600
the ground. Mattie started telling me about something she had

240
00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:44.399
been thinking about lately, one of those conversations that only

241
00:15:44.440 --> 00:15:47.279
happens when you're doing something else at the same time,

242
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when your hands or your eyes are busy and your

243
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mouth just goes And I love those conversations. I love

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the way a walk in the woods can open up

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00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:02.799
a person. There's something about being outside together, something about

246
00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:07.080
the rhythm of walking side by side that makes talking easier,

247
00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:10.720
makes the real stuff come up. Parn drifted in and

248
00:16:10.759 --> 00:16:14.799
out of our orbit, calling over when she found something interesting,

249
00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:20.480
a particularly weird rock, a beetle doing something unexplainable, a

250
00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:23.080
patch of wild flowers she wanted to look at for

251
00:16:23.159 --> 00:16:26.360
a second. That's torn. She doesn't go looking for just

252
00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:30.039
one thing. She goes looking at everything. And there's something

253
00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:32.759
I love deeply about that quality in her. The world

254
00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:35.120
doesn't have to hand you what you came from. The

255
00:16:35.159 --> 00:16:38.320
world can hand you something better, and she'll take it

256
00:16:38.360 --> 00:16:44.639
without complaints. Anelin stayed close, quiet and steady, occasionally crouching

257
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down to look at something near the ground, patient in

258
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a way that made me think she'd actually be really

259
00:16:50.679 --> 00:16:53.720
good at finding morals if there were any to find.

260
00:16:54.120 --> 00:16:58.720
But there weren't. We covered our ground well, we looked carefully,

261
00:16:59.399 --> 00:17:02.039
we didn't give up too early, and the woods just

262
00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:05.599
looked back at us and held its secrets close, which

263
00:17:05.640 --> 00:17:09.480
is its right The woods don't owe you anything. That's

264
00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:12.359
the thing you have to understand about nature when you

265
00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:15.480
step into it. It does not care about your plan,

266
00:17:15.720 --> 00:17:19.319
It does not care about your expectation. It simply is

267
00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:22.440
what it is. And on that day, it was a

268
00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:25.400
woods full of spring sounds and soft light and not

269
00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:28.599
a single morale mushroom as far as we could see.

270
00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:33.599
And that's okay, that's genuinely okay, because we were in it,

271
00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:38.039
we were present, we were together in those trees. And

272
00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:42.920
then something changed. It didn't announce itself, it never does.

273
00:17:43.799 --> 00:17:47.920
It started as just a feeling, faint, crawling kind of

274
00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:52.039
pitch somewhere on my leg. I scratched it and I

275
00:17:52.119 --> 00:17:55.279
kept walking. Then it was there again, not in the

276
00:17:55.319 --> 00:17:59.799
same place, somewhere slightly different. I stopped, looked down at

277
00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:03.559
my legs, and then I heard Maddie hold on. Her

278
00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:07.079
voice had that specific tone, that tone that means something

279
00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:10.720
that's wrong, and I'm trying to stay calm. She stopped walking,

280
00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:15.039
she was looking down at herself. I think something's on me.

281
00:18:15.559 --> 00:18:18.680
And that's when all four of us stopped and started looking.

282
00:18:19.240 --> 00:18:23.240
And that's when we saw them seed ticks. Okay, for

283
00:18:23.400 --> 00:18:27.839
anyone who has never had the joy of encountering seed

284
00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:31.720
ticks in the wild. Let me explain. Seed ticks are

285
00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:37.559
baby ticks. They are larvae. They are impossibly tiny, We're

286
00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:42.839
talking smaller than a pinhead, almost invisible individually. And here's

287
00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:47.079
the thing about seed ticks. They don't travel alone. They cluster,

288
00:18:47.720 --> 00:18:50.839
They hatch in batcher, and when you walk through an

289
00:18:50.880 --> 00:18:54.599
area where a cluster of them is waiting, you become

290
00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:59.519
their destination all at once. And that's exactly what happened.

291
00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:03.279
At some point during our walk, we passed through their

292
00:19:03.400 --> 00:19:07.200
territory and they had found us, all of us. And

293
00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:10.559
they were not just on our legs. They were moving,

294
00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:15.920
little tiny specks, barely visible, crawling across our jeans, our socks,

295
00:19:15.960 --> 00:19:20.160
our shoes in every direction. Now here's the thing about

296
00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:24.200
a moment like that, part of your brain goes completely still,

297
00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:28.240
and another part of your brain starts screaming, and the

298
00:19:28.279 --> 00:19:33.559
part that screaming wins. Maddie went into a full action mode. Immediately.

299
00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:37.319
She was brushing at her legs like she was trying

300
00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:41.079
to win a contest. Both hands, both legs, moving fast,

301
00:19:41.480 --> 00:19:44.359
Get them off, get them off, get them off. Not

302
00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:49.599
panicking exactly, but absolutely not calm. Kuran looked down at

303
00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:52.400
her legs, made a face that I could only describe

304
00:19:52.440 --> 00:19:56.640
as deeply offended, and started doing the same thing, brushing, slapping,

305
00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:00.039
shaking her legs like she was trying to kick some

306
00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:06.240
invisible and screaming, screaming very loudly. Anneline had this look

307
00:20:06.279 --> 00:20:09.839
on her face, that look of someone who was trying

308
00:20:09.880 --> 00:20:14.160
to process information that doesn't fit neatly into anything they've

309
00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:18.079
experienced before. She looked at her leg looked at me,

310
00:20:18.440 --> 00:20:21.160
looked back at her leg and then started brushing too.

311
00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:24.359
And me, I was doing all of it. I was

312
00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:27.400
brushing my legs, I was looking at my arms, I

313
00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:30.480
was checking my waistband. I was trying to stay in

314
00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:34.599
charge of the situation mode while also being very much

315
00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:38.480
not in charge of the situation. Because here's the honest

316
00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:41.359
truth about seed ticks. Once you know they're on you,

317
00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:45.440
every single sensation on your body feels like one. That

318
00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:50.359
little tickle on your arm, tick, that slight tug on

319
00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:55.279
your shirt, tick, the wind on your neck. Tick. Your

320
00:20:55.319 --> 00:20:58.319
brain stops being a brain and becomes a full time

321
00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:02.119
tick detection system. And we were all running that system

322
00:21:02.200 --> 00:21:05.960
at maximum capacity. There was this moment where all four

323
00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:08.559
of us were standing there in the middle of the woods,

324
00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:12.839
brushing ourselves frantically, looking at each other, and then one

325
00:21:12.880 --> 00:21:16.200
of us started laughing. I think it was me, Actually,

326
00:21:16.279 --> 00:21:20.799
I think it was Maddie first. No, definitely torn, but

327
00:21:21.319 --> 00:21:24.599
that doesn't matter. One of us started laughing, and then

328
00:21:24.839 --> 00:21:28.119
all of us started laughing, because what else do you do.

329
00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:32.480
You're in the woods, you found zero mushrooms, you're covered

330
00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:36.519
in baby ticks, and there is nobody coming to save you.

331
00:21:36.519 --> 00:21:40.799
You just laughed because it's kind of hilarious. It's genuinely,

332
00:21:40.920 --> 00:21:44.960
honestly kind of hilarious, and also still very uncomfortable, but

333
00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:48.920
mostly hilarious. We stood there in the woods, laughing and

334
00:21:48.920 --> 00:21:53.400
brushing ourselves off, making declarations like we were giving speeches.

335
00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:57.000
You definitely did not get them all. Okay, I definitely

336
00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:59.880
did not get them off. Should we check each other?

337
00:22:00.440 --> 00:22:03.839
We were absolutely checking each other. There is a very

338
00:22:03.880 --> 00:22:08.119
specific moment in an outdoor adventure when the inventor is over,

339
00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:11.640
not because you decided it was over, not because you

340
00:22:11.799 --> 00:22:15.480
checked the time, but because the thing you're doing just

341
00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:19.640
tells you. It says you're done here. And in the

342
00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:22.839
middle of those woods, covered in seed, ticks, you couldn't

343
00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:27.119
fully see. That message came in loud and clear. We

344
00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:31.200
were done. No mushrooms, no second wind, no trying a

345
00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:34.960
different section. Done. We turned around, and I want to

346
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.240
tell you that we walked calmly and gracefully back through

347
00:22:39.319 --> 00:22:42.759
those woods. I want to tell you that, but that

348
00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:46.880
would be a lie. We walked fast, faster than we'd

349
00:22:46.920 --> 00:22:50.319
been moving during the surf, like the trees behind us

350
00:22:50.359 --> 00:22:54.000
were the source of the problem, and distance from those

351
00:22:54.079 --> 00:22:58.680
trees was the solution. Every few seconds, one of us

352
00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:02.680
would stop walking, rush off a leg, mutter something, and

353
00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:06.119
then keep moving. Maddie kept saying, I think that's all

354
00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:09.440
of them, and then a few seconds later, Okay, that's

355
00:23:09.480 --> 00:23:12.359
not all of them. Toorn was doing a full body

356
00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:16.160
shimmy every thirty seconds or so, like if she moved

357
00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:18.559
the right way, the ticks would just decide to leave

358
00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:23.279
on their own. Annelin had mastered this specific expression of

359
00:23:23.319 --> 00:23:28.160
calm disgust, like she was deeply disappointed in the ticks

360
00:23:28.200 --> 00:23:30.960
on a personal level, and I was just leading the

361
00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:34.240
march back, trying to be the steady one, trying to

362
00:23:34.279 --> 00:23:38.000
be the voice of reason, while also completely abandoning all

363
00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:41.279
dignity to brush at my ankle. We made it back

364
00:23:41.319 --> 00:23:43.400
to the edge of the woods, back to the trail,

365
00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:46.839
back towards the truck, and the spring air that had

366
00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:50.400
felt so alive and beautiful an hour ago still felt

367
00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:53.880
alive and beautiful, but now it also felt like relief.

368
00:23:54.440 --> 00:23:57.559
The truck was right there, and it had never looked

369
00:23:57.599 --> 00:24:02.759
so good. We got to it, and before anyone got inside,

370
00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:06.559
there was this unspoken agreement that we all needed to

371
00:24:06.599 --> 00:24:10.720
do a full inspection because nobody, and I mean nobody

372
00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:14.240
wants to bring ticks into the vehicle. So we stood

373
00:24:14.279 --> 00:24:18.039
there in the gravel, doing a combination of checking ourselves

374
00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:22.400
and helping each other check pant legs, rolled up, socks checked,

375
00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:27.240
waist bands checked, shoes tapped against the ground, the whole routine.

376
00:24:27.599 --> 00:24:30.839
And I want to tell you we found nothing. I

377
00:24:30.920 --> 00:24:33.880
want to tell you the brushing worked and we were

378
00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:37.920
completely clear, but I think we all knew deep down

379
00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:41.960
that some of them were probably somewhere still on us,

380
00:24:42.279 --> 00:24:45.519
too small to see, which is its own special kind

381
00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:48.640
of knowing, the kind that makes you keep doing that phantom.

382
00:24:48.759 --> 00:24:52.440
It scratched for the rest of the afternoon, but we

383
00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:56.200
did our best, and once we felt reasonably okay about it.

384
00:24:56.680 --> 00:24:59.640
We opened the truck doors, got in, sat down and

385
00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:05.400
just existed for a second, quiet, completely mushroom free. And

386
00:25:05.440 --> 00:25:09.240
then someone started talking and the tick stories began. Because

387
00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:12.039
here's what you need to know about our family. We

388
00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:17.119
process things by talking about them. Immediately the moment something happens,

389
00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:20.000
we start narrating it back to each other, not to

390
00:25:20.039 --> 00:25:23.839
relive it necessarily, but because there's something about turning an

391
00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:27.880
experience into words that makes it ours, that makes it

392
00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:32.000
a story. And this was already becoming a story. Maddie

393
00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:35.519
was describing the moment she first realized what was happening.

394
00:25:35.960 --> 00:25:40.160
Turam was explaining her brushing technique in detail. Annelin was

395
00:25:40.200 --> 00:25:44.759
offering a fairly scientific rundown of seed tick behavior and

396
00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:47.319
I'm pretty sure she made up on the spot, but

397
00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:50.599
sounded completely convincing. And I was laughing at all of

398
00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:55.400
them because this is my family, This is exactly my family.

399
00:25:55.759 --> 00:25:58.400
We didn't have to wait long before we heard Jeremy coming.

400
00:25:58.559 --> 00:26:01.559
You always hear the boy before you see them. It's

401
00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:03.960
just how it is. There's a certain level of noise

402
00:26:03.960 --> 00:26:06.680
that follows a group of young men back from an

403
00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:11.240
outdoor adventure, whether the adventure went well or not. They

404
00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:14.000
came back through the trees with their poles and their

405
00:26:14.039 --> 00:26:17.200
tackle box, and I could read the energy before anyone

406
00:26:17.240 --> 00:26:21.319
said a word. It wasn't defeated, but it wasn't triumph either.

407
00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:25.279
It was that specific postfishing look, the one where the

408
00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:28.319
day was good, but the fish had their own agenda.

409
00:26:28.920 --> 00:26:31.880
Jeremy looked at them, Well, there was a pot that

410
00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:34.920
short pause where someone is deciding how to say that thing.

411
00:26:35.359 --> 00:26:39.519
We caught one, one, one catfish out of all of

412
00:26:39.559 --> 00:26:43.640
that preparation, out of all of that top, all of

413
00:26:43.720 --> 00:26:49.000
those confident predictions about twenty pound monsters, one fish now later.

414
00:26:49.359 --> 00:26:52.000
Because this is our family and we always get the

415
00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:55.319
whole account. Eventually I heard the whole story of what

416
00:26:55.519 --> 00:26:58.079
happened at the water, and it was a good story.

417
00:26:58.319 --> 00:27:01.759
The boys had set up along the with complete confidence,

418
00:27:01.960 --> 00:27:07.119
pulls in the water, serious expressions, sitting like veterans. He

419
00:27:07.160 --> 00:27:10.759
didn't claimed the best fish spot first. Tristan set up

420
00:27:10.759 --> 00:27:14.519
downstream and immediately declared that his spot was actually better.

421
00:27:15.160 --> 00:27:18.160
He haven't found his ground and got quiet the way

422
00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:21.839
he does. Colin just watched the water like it was

423
00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:26.799
the most interesting thing he'd ever seen, which honestly, maybe

424
00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:29.960
it was. For a while, everything felt like it was

425
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.240
about to happen. Every small ripple in the water looked

426
00:27:34.279 --> 00:27:37.519
like a fish thinking about biting. Every light tug of

427
00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:41.599
the current felt like something worse sitting up for. And

428
00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:45.880
they were patient, genuinely patient, which if you know anything

429
00:27:45.880 --> 00:27:49.200
about getting a group of young men to be patient together,

430
00:27:49.880 --> 00:27:54.200
it's its own kind of miracle. But that's fishing. That's

431
00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:58.640
what fishing actually does to be. It reaches into whoever

432
00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:01.359
you are and pulls out a version of you that

433
00:28:01.559 --> 00:28:06.839
can just sit and wait and believe. Keenan was convinced

434
00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:10.319
multiple times that he had a bite. I felt something.

435
00:28:11.160 --> 00:28:14.440
That's the current. Now that was a fish, that was

436
00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:18.200
definitely a fish. Set the hook. Then I'm waiting for

437
00:28:18.279 --> 00:28:22.359
the right moment. There's no fish. There's absolutely a fish.

438
00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:27.359
There was no fish, but then again there almost was,

439
00:28:28.079 --> 00:28:31.920
and almost counts in fishing. Almost is the whole reason

440
00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:35.880
you go back. And then Gavin caught one real and

441
00:28:36.119 --> 00:28:42.279
actual catfish on the line, not twenty pounds, not thirty,

442
00:28:42.359 --> 00:28:45.839
but it was there, it was fighting, it was real,

443
00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:49.559
and when that fish came out of the water, you

444
00:28:49.640 --> 00:28:53.319
would have thought Gavin had landed something legendary based on

445
00:28:53.480 --> 00:28:57.039
the reaction from the rest of them, because that one

446
00:28:57.119 --> 00:29:00.400
fish was now everything. It was the proof that the

447
00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:04.039
day worked. It was the punchline and pay off all

448
00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:07.160
at once. They took a good look at it, held

449
00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:11.279
it up, debated its size. Someone suggested it was bigger

450
00:29:11.519 --> 00:29:15.279
than it looked because the angle. Someone else said, that's

451
00:29:15.319 --> 00:29:18.359
not how angles work. And then they let it go

452
00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:21.720
because that's the kind of fishing they were doing, just

453
00:29:21.759 --> 00:29:25.279
to catch, just to feel it, just to know what happened.

454
00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:28.119
And then they packed up and came back to us.

455
00:29:28.519 --> 00:29:32.680
One fish, one story, everything they needed. And here's the

456
00:29:32.759 --> 00:29:37.400
thing that could have landed flat. That could have been

457
00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:43.000
a quiet, slightly disappointing moment, but instead we laughed because

458
00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:45.519
when you come back from the woods with zero mushrooms

459
00:29:45.559 --> 00:29:48.279
and a body full of seed ticks and the boys

460
00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:53.920
come back with one catfish, it's perfect. It's actually perfect

461
00:29:54.640 --> 00:30:00.000
because nobody won. Everybody got humbled. The outdoors took everyone down.

462
00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:04.880
Not the woods said not today, the water said on

463
00:30:05.039 --> 00:30:09.680
my turns. And somehow that made it better because it

464
00:30:09.720 --> 00:30:14.039
was even We were all in it together. We all

465
00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:17.519
came out with nothing but the experience and the experience.

466
00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:23.200
The experience was great. Jeremy was grinning, not at the boys,

467
00:30:23.880 --> 00:30:28.240
just at all of it, at the whole ridiculous, beautiful,

468
00:30:28.519 --> 00:30:32.680
lopsided day. He looked at the one fish and nodded slowly,

469
00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:36.079
like a man who had made peace with outcomes he

470
00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:39.720
can't control. And then he said, that's a good fish.

471
00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:43.759
Because it was that one fish had to carry a

472
00:30:43.759 --> 00:30:47.559
lot of white, and to its credit, it held up.

473
00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:50.839
And then we did the thing our family always does.

474
00:30:51.039 --> 00:30:53.799
We stood there in the fresh air and traded stories.

475
00:30:54.519 --> 00:30:59.039
The fishing side gave us their version, the early confidence,

476
00:30:59.400 --> 00:31:02.799
the waiting, the water that was definitely full of fish,

477
00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:07.519
just very stubborn ones, the way that first nibble felt

478
00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:11.400
like a signal that the big catch was coming, the

479
00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:14.920
way it turned out to be the only nibble, And

480
00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:18.759
our side gave them our version. The woods, the searching,

481
00:31:19.559 --> 00:31:25.319
the hope with every stick and leaf, And then the ticks.

482
00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:29.799
The boys thought the ticks story was incredible, the specific

483
00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:32.400
kind of incredible where they were glad it wasn't them,

484
00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:36.519
but loved hearing every detail. Keenan wanted to know exactly

485
00:31:36.519 --> 00:31:39.839
how many. Devin wanted to know if we actually counted them.

486
00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:44.000
Colin just looked a little horrified and a little fascinated

487
00:31:44.039 --> 00:31:48.240
at the same time, and Tristan being Tristan, pointed out

488
00:31:48.279 --> 00:31:51.680
that fishing in an open area near the water meant

489
00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:58.240
they avoided the whole situation entirely, which technically was true.

490
00:31:58.480 --> 00:32:01.720
So I pointed out that they also came home with

491
00:32:01.799 --> 00:32:05.480
one capish, so maybe the woods were the wiser choice

492
00:32:05.720 --> 00:32:10.039
after all. He thought about that and conceded the point

493
00:32:11.319 --> 00:32:14.160
We stood there for a good long stretch, nobody in

494
00:32:14.200 --> 00:32:17.279
a rush to leave, just talking, just being there in

495
00:32:17.319 --> 00:32:21.160
the sunlight together, the kind of moment where nobody's looking

496
00:32:21.160 --> 00:32:26.160
at their phone, nobody's distracted, everyone is just present. You

497
00:32:26.200 --> 00:32:30.319
don't plan for those moments, you can't schedule them. They

498
00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:33.880
just happen, and when they do, you feel them. You

499
00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:38.240
feel the realness of them. You feel the realness of them,

500
00:32:38.599 --> 00:32:41.160
the weight of how lucky you are could be standing

501
00:32:41.480 --> 00:32:43.319
and he grave a lot next to a bunch of

502
00:32:43.359 --> 00:32:47.000
woods with your whole family, talking about fish and ticks

503
00:32:47.039 --> 00:32:50.559
and the way the day went. That's it, that's everything.

504
00:32:51.799 --> 00:32:54.880
The ride home was different from the ride out, not worse,

505
00:32:55.119 --> 00:33:00.000
just different. The way a full stomach feels different from

506
00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:04.640
an empty one. The energy had settled, not gone, just quieter,

507
00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:08.079
more satisfied, the way it feels at the end of

508
00:33:08.119 --> 00:33:10.920
the day when your body knows it was used for

509
00:33:11.039 --> 00:33:15.359
something good. The boys were following behind, Some of them

510
00:33:15.519 --> 00:33:19.160
were dozing off, some of them still recounting the fishing

511
00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:22.839
trip in hushed voices, like they were working out an

512
00:33:22.839 --> 00:33:27.440
official version of events for the record. Maddie had her

513
00:33:27.519 --> 00:33:32.039
head back that relaxed kind of tired, the good kind.

514
00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:35.400
Karen was watching the trees go by out the window.

515
00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:39.720
Anelin had that soft fair way expression she gets when

516
00:33:39.720 --> 00:33:43.319
she's replaying the day in her head. And Jeremy was driving,

517
00:33:44.079 --> 00:33:47.160
one hand on the wheel, that calm, steady presence he

518
00:33:47.319 --> 00:33:50.920
always is behind the wheel, the kind of driving that

519
00:33:51.079 --> 00:33:54.079
feels like it could go on forever and nobody would mind.

520
00:33:55.039 --> 00:33:57.680
The spring light was coming in low through the windows,

521
00:33:58.200 --> 00:34:00.920
that afternoon kind of light that turned and everything a

522
00:34:00.920 --> 00:34:04.680
little golden. The radio was on low, just low enough

523
00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:07.119
to hear, but not enough to pull you out of

524
00:34:07.160 --> 00:34:09.679
your thoughts. And I sat there looking out at the

525
00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:13.800
road ahead, thinking about the morning, thinking about the mushrooms

526
00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:18.000
we didn't find, the one catfish, the seed ticks, the laughter,

527
00:34:18.679 --> 00:34:21.159
the moment we all stood there together by the truck,

528
00:34:21.239 --> 00:34:24.639
telling stories, and I thought, this is a good life,

529
00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:29.880
this specific, imperfect, always unexpected life. It is so good,

530
00:34:30.360 --> 00:34:33.599
not because of the big thing, not because everything went perfectly,

531
00:34:34.079 --> 00:34:37.880
but because we're in it together, because every single day

532
00:34:37.880 --> 00:34:41.679
we get to try something and sometimes it works, and

533
00:34:41.800 --> 00:34:46.239
sometimes the woods win, and either way we come home laughing.

534
00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:49.639
I've been thinking about this day a lot since it happened,

535
00:34:49.960 --> 00:34:52.880
because it was one of those ordinary days that doesn't

536
00:34:52.880 --> 00:34:56.159
feel ordinary when you really sit with it. Nobody found

537
00:34:56.199 --> 00:34:59.920
the mushrooms. That was a loss. One catfish for four

538
00:35:00.159 --> 00:35:04.119
fishermen that was a loss. A full encounter with seed

539
00:35:04.159 --> 00:35:07.400
ticks in the middle of the woods that was definitely

540
00:35:07.440 --> 00:35:11.920
a loss by any standard measurement of the original plan.

541
00:35:12.519 --> 00:35:16.360
We failed. We didn't accomplish what we set out to accomplish.

542
00:35:16.639 --> 00:35:19.800
And yet when I think about that day, I don't

543
00:35:19.840 --> 00:35:23.400
think about losing. I don't think about what we didn't find.

544
00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:26.480
I think about Mattie's face when she first looked down

545
00:35:26.519 --> 00:35:30.760
at her legs that split second before the chaos started.

546
00:35:31.079 --> 00:35:34.360
I think about torn shimming in the middle of the woods.

547
00:35:34.599 --> 00:35:37.880
I think about Anelin watching all of us with that quiet,

548
00:35:37.960 --> 00:35:41.480
deep seeing look of hers. I think about the boys

549
00:35:41.519 --> 00:35:44.760
coming out of the trees with one fish, holding it

550
00:35:44.840 --> 00:35:47.960
like it was enough because it was. I think about

551
00:35:48.039 --> 00:35:51.400
Jeremy grinning. I think about the light on the way home.

552
00:35:51.800 --> 00:35:54.719
These are the things I carry from that day. These

553
00:35:54.760 --> 00:35:58.000
are the things that stayed. And here's what I know

554
00:35:58.079 --> 00:36:01.119
to be true. The good days in a family's life

555
00:36:01.639 --> 00:36:05.000
are not always the days that go well. Sometimes the

556
00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:08.000
good days are the ones that fall apart in the

557
00:36:08.039 --> 00:36:12.800
most harmless, laughable ways, the days that give you a story,

558
00:36:13.440 --> 00:36:15.800
the days that remind you that the world is bigger

559
00:36:15.800 --> 00:36:19.400
than your plan, that nature doesn't care about your schedule,

560
00:36:19.880 --> 00:36:24.480
that a catfish is not obligated to cooperate with your expectations,

561
00:36:24.719 --> 00:36:28.079
that a seed tick does not care that you're having

562
00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:33.159
a perfectly nice time, and that your family you're imperfect, noisy,

563
00:36:33.360 --> 00:36:36.960
too much to contain. Family is more than enough to

564
00:36:37.079 --> 00:36:40.480
make even the days that don't work into something you

565
00:36:40.559 --> 00:36:43.760
want to remember. I think sometimes we put too much

566
00:36:43.800 --> 00:36:47.920
pressure on the plant. We think the destination is the thing,

567
00:36:48.800 --> 00:36:51.599
the mushrooms are the thing, the fish is the thing,

568
00:36:52.760 --> 00:36:55.840
and we spend so much time focused on getting the

569
00:36:55.880 --> 00:37:00.000
thing that we miss the whole experience. Of going after it.

570
00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:04.159
We miss the car ride, we miss the conversations on

571
00:37:04.239 --> 00:37:07.480
the trail, We miss our kids being exactly who they

572
00:37:07.519 --> 00:37:11.519
are in a moment that will never come back. Because

573
00:37:11.559 --> 00:37:14.840
here's the truth about raising a family. The time moves

574
00:37:14.920 --> 00:37:18.679
faster than you think, a lot faster. And the kids

575
00:37:18.679 --> 00:37:21.679
who are arguing about whose fish is bigger in the

576
00:37:21.719 --> 00:37:25.239
back seat today, they're going to be grown before you're

577
00:37:25.280 --> 00:37:28.400
ready for them to be. The daughter walking through the

578
00:37:28.440 --> 00:37:32.119
woods beside you, telling you what's on her mind. She's

579
00:37:32.159 --> 00:37:35.679
going to have her own life one day, her own woods,

580
00:37:35.719 --> 00:37:39.519
to walk through, her own stories. She'll tell her own people.

581
00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:44.440
And you get her now, right now, in this morning,

582
00:37:45.320 --> 00:37:50.760
in this imperfect, mushroomless, tick covered morning in the spring woods.

583
00:37:51.320 --> 00:37:54.079
That's the gift. That's the one they don't put on

584
00:37:54.119 --> 00:37:57.480
the packaging. The day didn't go according to plant, but

585
00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:00.159
every single person in my family went to bed that

586
00:38:00.320 --> 00:38:05.079
night having spent a real day outside together, having shared something,

587
00:38:05.639 --> 00:38:09.519
having laughed at something real, having been part of a story.

588
00:38:10.280 --> 00:38:13.840
And that is not nothing, That is not almost enough.

589
00:38:14.559 --> 00:38:18.159
That is everything I think about that day, and I'm grateful,

590
00:38:18.960 --> 00:38:23.840
not despite how it went, but because how the woods

591
00:38:23.880 --> 00:38:28.199
won and I'd go back tomorrow. I'd lose all over again,

592
00:38:28.400 --> 00:38:32.519
happy because the losing is just the cost of admission.

593
00:38:33.360 --> 00:38:36.440
The admission gets you into the day, and the day

594
00:38:36.519 --> 00:38:40.519
gets you into the memory, and the memory states long

595
00:38:40.559 --> 00:38:43.440
after the ticks are gone. I want to say something

596
00:38:43.480 --> 00:38:47.159
before I let you go today, to everyone out there

597
00:38:47.440 --> 00:38:51.199
who is chasing something, Chasing the perfect day, chasing the

598
00:38:51.280 --> 00:38:55.039
big cat, chasing the thing that keeps hiding from you

599
00:38:55.480 --> 00:38:58.679
no matter how long you look. It's okay if you

600
00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:03.639
don't find it. It really genuinely is, because the searching

601
00:39:03.800 --> 00:39:07.840
is the thing. The being there is the thing. The

602
00:39:07.880 --> 00:39:12.159
people beside you when the plan falls apart, they are

603
00:39:12.239 --> 00:39:16.719
the whole entire thing. Real life is not a highlight reel.

604
00:39:17.360 --> 00:39:20.559
Real life is a Saturday morning with your family where

605
00:39:20.599 --> 00:39:24.360
everything goes slightly sideways and you come home tired and

606
00:39:24.400 --> 00:39:28.920
a little itchy and completely full. That's what life is.

607
00:39:29.559 --> 00:39:35.039
And it's beautiful, messy and loud and unpredictable and beautiful.

608
00:39:36.119 --> 00:39:38.719
So if you're out there feeling like your days aren't

609
00:39:38.760 --> 00:39:42.760
measuring up, like you're not special enough or planned enough

610
00:39:42.920 --> 00:39:46.719
or perfect enough, like everyone else is out there having

611
00:39:46.760 --> 00:39:52.559
these big, polished, beautiful experiences, and yours just keeps coming

612
00:39:52.599 --> 00:39:56.719
out lopside. I want you to hear this. Your real

613
00:39:56.840 --> 00:40:00.199
days are the good ones, the ones with seed ticks

614
00:40:00.320 --> 00:40:03.559
and one catfish and zero mushrooms and a truck full

615
00:40:03.639 --> 00:40:07.320
of your people on the way home. Those are the

616
00:40:07.440 --> 00:40:11.239
days worth keeping. Those are the stories worth telling, not

617
00:40:11.360 --> 00:40:16.960
because they're perfect, precisely because they're not. Because real life

618
00:40:17.280 --> 00:40:21.920
has texture, real life has the unexpected. Real life has

619
00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:24.760
the moment where your daughter looks at you from the

620
00:40:24.800 --> 00:40:27.679
middle of the woods and starts laughing because there is

621
00:40:27.800 --> 00:40:31.760
nothing else to do, and that laugh becomes one of

622
00:40:31.800 --> 00:40:35.159
your favorite sounds you've ever heard. You don't get that

623
00:40:35.239 --> 00:40:38.039
in the perfect version. You only get that in the

624
00:40:38.079 --> 00:40:41.599
real one. So go outside with your family, make a

625
00:40:41.679 --> 00:40:45.639
plan you won't stick to walk into the woods, come

626
00:40:45.679 --> 00:40:49.559
back with nothing, come back with everything, because long after

627
00:40:49.599 --> 00:40:53.280
the ticks are gone, the story stays. Long after you

628
00:40:53.360 --> 00:40:56.639
forget what you're looking for, you'll remember who is there,

629
00:40:57.239 --> 00:41:02.039
and that's everything. That is absolutely everything, this has been

630
00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:05.119
We are the Hansen. If this story made you smile,

631
00:41:05.599 --> 00:41:08.639
if it reminded you of your own family, or your

632
00:41:08.639 --> 00:41:11.840
own days that didn't go as planned and somehow turned

633
00:41:11.880 --> 00:41:14.519
out better because of it. I want to hear from you.

634
00:41:15.280 --> 00:41:18.079
Hear this episode with someone who needs to hear that

635
00:41:18.199 --> 00:41:22.440
the imperfect days are the good ones. Leave us a review,

636
00:41:23.280 --> 00:41:26.400
and if you go out morel hunting this spring, check

637
00:41:26.480 --> 00:41:29.159
your legs before you get back in the car. Trust

638
00:41:29.159 --> 00:41:31.920
me on that one. I am Maya Hansen. This is

639
00:41:31.960 --> 00:41:34.519
We are the Hansen and we'll see you next time.