As the deer thirsts

Ever since I learned about the Native American Way of thinking about things, I have tried to pay attention to things that I would otherwise ignore - like little coincidences and that little voice in the back of my head.

But paying attention- which seems to be the command I hear the most lately - is paying off.

Monday of last week I drove out to a lady's home near Hartwell ( you know, the location of the Boatboy). On my way there, I heard the little voice to slow down. There are a lot of little farms and stands of trees that I had already zoomed past- but I slowed down just the same.

A fawn came darting across the road, just hopping happily. I came to a full stop and waited...... just a few seconds later, another fawn followed the same path. I looked into the stand of the woods and there was a doe, watching. Out of the corner of my eye came the two fawns again, loping across the highway and back into the thicket with their mother. I was transfixed on them- the joy of their hopping, the beautiful carmel color of their coats and the little white speckles on their fannies.

I slowly pulled forward, and they bounded out into the adjoining yard frolicking as though they had no need to fear anything in the world. It was wonderous. The mother never came out of the woods, but I knew she was there watching. I pulled away very slowly and was in awe of what I had seen.

Thursday evening, I getting into my car and all of a sudden there was a great crashing through the woods by our house, along the creek bed. A flash of white tail confirmed that it was a deer - in our yard! We haven't seen any deer since they cut down the 17 acres behind our house. The deer bounded into the brush and laid low until evening came. we walked back and forth by where he was laying, but never saw him - we have some pretty dense brush. He was gone by morning.

I saw another deer bounding across the road - but because sometimes I don't pay attention, I cannot tell you all the details - I only remember that when I saw the twins, they were my second sighting in a week and I thought it was interesting.

I have looked up a dozen references on what it means to see a deer- and several of them say it is a message to focus on gentleness and cautious awareness of my surroundings, like the doe. I don't know, though, I sound a lot more like that buck - dashing through the woods, making enough noise to wake the dead, knocking things over. Maybe he was my message: don't worry, you aren't the loudest member of Creation ever! I'll keep paying attention.