It was a nice day, a beautiful day - warm
sunshine, light breeze and all the normal sounds of nature that come with the first days of spring. We had spent the day outside- walking, fishing, watching a select few animals and enjoying the day. Early afternoon rolled around and Ella’s sluggish walk and firm gaze into thin air quickly let us know it was passed nap time. We headed home, but not without taking a quick drive down the dirt road that leads up to our house in an effort to see if we could catch the turkeys during their afternoon gathering. (When it gets this close to turkey season it’s more than Matt can handle to think that they might be in sight and he’s not around to experience it.) So we slowly drove, gazing out the window when we suddenly had to stop. Not for a turkey, not for a deer or a dog or anything else that might cause excitement, but for a squirrel. Ella leaped out of the car and by “leaped” I mean bounded out almost before it was stopped in an effort to plant her feet on the ground as quickly as possible. She slumped down and in her best effort to “tip toe” did so over to the trees where the little family of squirrels were busily going about their day. She had great hopes of being able to grab one and give it love and kisses till her heart was content.
As I watched her, thoughts and stories raced through my mind. For the first time I knew where this innate love and passion for nature and all God’s creatures came from. Matt’s an outdoorsman- he hunts and fishes and basically looks for reasons to be in the fresh air and not in the confinement of the house, but that wasn’t it, it was something different. Though she’s like him in many ways, more than we can count, this particular characteristic was Nancy Dee all over, my grandmother, Nana, on my father’s side. For whatever the reason at this particular moment watching Ella was like seeing Nana almost as if she were a little girl again. The stories of her with her father, outside with the animals or taking care of some fallen bird or neglected animal or bottle feeding a stray dog filled my mind. I obviously didn’t witness these acts first hand, but have heard those stories many times, enough to know this was familiar. Nana has that same indescribable passion for all God’s creatures. When something is hurt you don’t ignore it or leave it, but rather help and nurture it. Take care of what needs to be done, wrap a wing or leg and get its strength back up and then send it back into the wild or keep it if there is any doubt it won’t make it on its own. It’s a unique love and respect that most of us don’t have nor can even understand.
Matt has been “hunting” a beaver for several weeks now. The thing stacks sticks and logs down at the pond and for reasons unknown to myself this is an utter annoyance for him. He’s hung out at the beaver’s house with a gun in true Elmer Fudd fashion, set a trap in the water and generally stalked the animal to the point that it’s almost obsessive. I could care less about the beaver. Whether he’s here, or somewhere else, stacking logs, or swimming or visiting beaver heaven…it makes no difference to me. Matt, on the other hand, has made it his life’s goal to shoot or capture this beaver for disrupting his life. Whatever! Anyway, talk of shooting the beaver was overheard by Ella one afternoon. Her defense for the beaver was that he couldn’t shoot it because and I quote, “it would hurt his feelings.” Sound Assumption and sweet thought. Ella likes to visit the beaver’s house, talk about him as if he’s her friend and has made several attempts to see if we could bring him to our house. Nana would be the only other person in the world I know that would care enough to even consider being on the beaver’s side.
When I was a little girl I spent many moments with Nana working in a garden, picking and planting flowers and watching a tiny tree frog as if it were the last one on earth. I thought of all those things, things I hadn’t thought of in years. It became blatantly obvious at that moment as I watched Ella bonding with her father and loving nature exactly how much she has in common with her great-grandmother. It seems ironic, and true what they say that history repeats itself. Ella LOVES spending time with her grandmothers, both of them. It is a special love, but it is the most amazing thing to see the likeness and similarities in the generations that are seemingly farther apart – that specifically of Ella and her great grandmother. And, I guess the blessing is that she still has the opportunity to learn from and spend time with her, the lesson is that she should!
I wrote this entry around last March and failed to post it. I remembered it because of an event we experienced today. Matt and I took Ella and the baby out for a walk this afternoon. By the pond we found a stray dog. He had a collar, but no tag, wasn’t much to look at, but was clearly healthy and fed and had been out in the previous rain and was wet and slightly muddy from his running around. Ella fell in love immediately. Despite my concern and hesitation they rolled around together, ran and played. She petted her, rubbed her belly and let her lick her face all over, laughing and giggling all the while! I couldn’t help but smile and laugh with her as did Matt…it was a special moment, one of which there was nothing else she’d rather be doing. She named the dog Bolt and was more than tickled that it followed us home, regardless of our best efforts. She’s been asking about her all afternoon!
Some big yawns...
Some more sleep.
And, some deep thought! I wonder what he's thinking???
Here are some pictures of my two biggest blessings the day we left!!!
