we are merely guests

i believed myself immune to the spontaneous natural happenings… unable to be fazed by the mini moments of wonder occurring almost constantly in my own backyard.

my family moved to the house i live in now before i began kindergarten. as we drove up to the house for the first time, i asked my parents why there was green carpet outside the house.

since that day the wonder has faded. two dozen years of seasons have come and gone before my eyes. the woods forever transforming from vibrant green… to exciting orange… then becoming a blanket of white.

we share our world with a menagerie of animals and understand the woods belong to them. we are merely guests.

being close witness to nature for over two decades, i have become slightly jaded… unamused by grazing deer, playing cubs, or the occasional hunting coyote.

monday night was different. i was in my kitchen preparing a meal for my mister, when a deer walked across the yard and the simple, quiet beauty of it stopped me in my tracks. the scene felt magical. i felt wildly calm. at home and at peace. everything just right.

watching the doe walk in front of our naked trees felt new and magnificent.

more than i ever have before, i felt completely whole. there was no later, no past, no future. just that fleeting moment.