>Problem Solved

>As we returned from a date night a few evenings ago, I got out of the car just in time to see an enormous pair of wings swoop low across the street and land in a bottom branch of our neighbor’s pear tree.

“Hubs!” I whispered excitedly. “You have GOT to see this!” I ran down our driveway and out into the street. Hubs shook his head.

“Let’s go inside, Lindsay,” he said in the manner of someone who’s used to his wife running down the driveway and out into the street at night for no good reason.

“No, I’m serious!” I said. “I just saw this huge bird! It was enormous! It landed in the Simpsons’ pear tree!”

“It’s probably a crow.”

“No it was bigger! It was gigantic!” I raised my voice in a stage whisper as I approached the tree, trying not to scare whatever it was off. “You’ve got to see this!”

Reluctantly, Hubs joined me in the middle of the street and we both peered into the branches of the pear tree in silence for a moment, our eyes adjusting to the darkness.

And then we gasped.

Staring back at us from the bottom branch was the largest owl I’ve ever seen. It was easily the length of my forearm, from the tip of my finger to my elbow. Maybe bigger. We stood facing the owl at eye level, just 15 or so feet of distance between us.

“Stay here,” Hubs said in a low voice. “I’m going to bring out the kids and a flashlight.” Quietly, he retraced his steps back to the house and slipped inside.

Meanwhile, I stood frozen, staring at the owl. The owl stared back at me. And I knew as I stood there that this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.To be so very close to such a large owl was… extraordinary. Amazing. Profound.

The owl didn’t move. Neither did I. For one long moment, the world melted away, time stood still, and it was just the two of us, staring. Marveling. And then in the distance, I heard the click of my front door opening.

The owl shook himself and silently flew off into the night. I heard my husband and children approach behind me, but I didn’t move. A thought had formed itself in my mind as the owl and I had stared at one another, a message had somehow been conveyed, one that filled me with intense satisfaction.

Hubs and the kids came up beside me, and I turned to him, my eyes gleaming.

“So that’s what happened to all the mice around here,” I said happily.

Life is good.