Do you remember your child’s first steps or the first time they rode a bike without training wheels?
I don’t remember if it was a Tuesday or a Saturday, but I definitely remember my son gripping my two index fingers in his tiny hands and then letting go and wobbling across the living room to my wife. He tottered, he fell, he got up and did it over and over, and soon he was laughing that infectious laugh that babies have when they discover something new or funny.
I remember a cold spring Sunday as I ran down the driveway holding onto the seat of my sons bike as he tried to gain his balance the first time without training wheels. I let go and the anxiety I was feeling turned to pride as I watched him head down the driveway. That pride quickly dissolved to fear again as he headed for the road and I hoped he remembered how to use his brakes…he did.
I’m thinking of all this because the other morning I saw something special. Our house is bordered on one side by a cluster of pine trees and on the other side by some woods. As I was out for my morning walk I saw a rustling in the grass by the pine trees. I paused, thinking it was a rabbit or some other small critter. Instead, a small, and I mean small, like hours old small fawn staggered to its feet. It’s white spots just caught the rising sun and its spindly legs barely held it upright. I looked around for the doe, but she wasn’t to be seen. It was as if she gave birth a few hours ago then left to find food or water. The fawn glanced at me briefly, then on its stick like legs it staggered into the pine trees.
There’s not a lot of good happening right now. The coronavirus is still infecting people and while a lot of people recover from it, it has killed thousands of people here and millions around the world. Meanwhile an unarmed black man was killed by the police, something that happens far too often. Outrage led to protest, which invariably led to violence and rioting across the nation. It seems like we’ve seen this before and nothing much changes. The cycle just repeats over and over, maybe this time will be different, we’ll see.
It’s easy to become negative, it’s kinda been a crappy year so far. Life is different, the school year ended in March, business’ and restaurants have been closed for two months, only now reopening. Sporting events and concerts, anything with large crowds have yet to happen. And the experts talk of a second wave of infections, maybe soon with the reopenings or maybe in the winter during the traditional cold and flu season.
Sometimes you have to look really hard for something good or special, but sometimes it stumbles right before you, like a fawn taking its first wobbly steps on spindly unstable legs disappearing into the woods, beginning its journey.
Stay safe my friends and take care of each other…
Peace
John's Blog 