Minor Moments of Grace and Beauty

Once in a while magic happens so quietly and with so little fanfare that we fail to enjoy it.  It's the hot, hot of the summer and right now the days are too humid and stifling to be outside until the evening.  On these days you have to wait until the sun sits low on the horizon to go outside. At that time of day, the birds still chirp and sing and the cicadas make their noises mixed with sounds of kids playing down the street and mowers running off in the distance. Those are the comfortable sounds of a suburban summer.  

Our house sits on a small pond and we built a patio so that we can sit outside and enjoy the sun backlighting the trees on summer nights. There is just enough lawn where the kids could play football and soccer when they were little - or better yet, set up the Slip-n-Slide for some real fun.  Somehow, taking a moment to sit outside seems like a luxury, and we do not do it often enough.  Yet the other night, there we were, Lisa and I just sitting and talking, with our faithful dog, Lucie, at our feet.

Lisa saw it first. It looked like Odin, our neighbors Doberman Pincher.  I was walking out in the trees and shrubs between the pond and the lawn. I came into the open. It was a young deer.  Lucie, sat up and stared. Lisa and I went quiet. We quietly ordered Lucie to "Stay" since she wasn't on a leash and loves to chase deer when she can.  The deer stopped, stood, and stared back at us.  Maybe it was the first-time seeing humans and a canine just doing nothing. It seemed neither intimidated nor concerned with seeing us, but still kept its eyes on us.  It bent down and nibbled some long blades of grass and poked around the bird feeder.  

It walked out of the wood line and onto the yard - maybe thirty feet away.  We. All. Just. Froze.  The moment seemed to go on for minutes. It stood there in the warm summer air at dusk. Our souls swelled a little, just caught in that special place of something so unique that seemed to be just for us.  

Then it turned and walked further down the pond.  

Sometimes life is about the value of small things.