A note on Karma. After my little grasshopper trick with the kids I've just been waiting for Karma to pounce on me like a hungry puma; and pounce it did. Saturday night we were at the cabin. It was twilight and I decided to take Kaylie on a 4 wheeler ride after about an hour of her insisting, "mommy take da apples to da pussies(horses)?" It is the first time this year that it's been truly chilly, it had been raining all day so there were huge puddles on the ground , and Ryan and Conner were in no mood to brave the dark and cold so we bumbled down the hill on the 4 wheeler together...alone. We came to the top of the little hill by the coral and K and I dismounted. There I walked my sweet daughter on my shoulders, an apple in each of her little hands, to give the horsies a treat. Needless to say they loved it. Kaylie laughed incessantly as they whinnied and chewed loudly. She got up the courage to pet them and after a little persuasion she even fed them out of her own hand. It was a total success for self confidence. "You go girl", I thought as I witnessed her overcome one fear after another. We watched them trot back down to the bottom of the basin and i decided that it was probably time to start heading back. As we came to the crest of the hill, there they were, my personal 4 legged hell. There a mere 15 yards ahead of us stood 8 huge blood thirsty deer. I counted 7 females and then spotted him. The gigantic 6 point buck locked eyes with me and huffed. I let out a small but distinct whimper. He wasted no time in positioning himself firmly in between Kaylie and I, and his herd. I froze. for half a second I thought of turning on my haunches, picking up Kaylie and making a run for it. Then I realized what easy...slow targets we would be on foot. "Oh shit!" I thought realizing that the 4 wheeler was still another 3 feet ahead of me. I had to move toward them before I could move away. I took a deep breath, and put Kaylie on my back so that if he charged, the razor sharp antlers would impale me, hopefully keeping my daughter alive and safe. I took the horrifying but necessary three steps to the machine. He answered with two menacingly deliberate steps to close the distance between us even more. My eyes teared up. I pushed the ignition. Nothing. I repeated the phrase "don't panic Tia...don't panic" to myself, as the buck stood there not breaking his intimidating gaze for a second. I pushed the button two more times and by the grace of God the engine roared to life. The females all startled bounced back a few yards but not the buck. He took a wide stance shoulders down, eyes still on us. I threw it into reverse and jolted back. I turned and raced toward safety. Towards Ryan. In my haste and unwillingness to avert my eyes unable to believe that we weren't being chased by the beasts, I hit more than my fair share of puddles on the way back home. By the time we reached the threshold of the cabin we were covered in thick russet clay mud, I had mascara down my cheek and on my neck from crying, both of our hair was a ratted windblown mud crusted mess and my Kaylie was in desperate need for some cocoa. Ryan took care to calm me down, even though I know that he wanted to laugh his @$$ off at the absurdity of the experience. And chances are that you too are thinking to yourself what a sniveling, shivering idiot I am, and you may just be right. But chances are that if you are reading this blog we are either family or dear friends so you have no choice but to love me regardless of how crazy I am.
I am now convinced in the ancient truth of karma. From here on out I will only be sending butterflies, daises, and metaphorical rays of sunshine into the cosmos. That is until I concoct another "too good to miss" trick.
