Some days you’re the fox, some days you’re the hare.

Yesterday wasn’t a great day.

It makes me uncomfortable to type that because I try hard to stay positive and to not complain, and to keep things in perspective, constantly mindful of the fact that that things can always be worse.

But I am human. And yesterday was just not my day. Everything I touched all day seemed to go wrong. You ever have one of those days? Well, I thought I’d turn it around with a big chicken dinner. I made stuffing and cranberry sauce… all of my favourite things.

And then, the pan I was roasting the huge local chicken in? It shattered in the oven. Glass everywhere. Smoke filled the room. The kids came running, frightened by the smash.

And I was done. I made bacon and eggs, went to bed early and told myself that tomorrow would be a new day.

This morning, I was the first one up. The house was still. It was early, but not crazy early. Just before six.

I came downstairs and started turning on ceiling fans and opening windows.

I spotted something moving in our front yard. It was a young fox. A beautiful red fox, sitting right by the curb. Not a common sight in my little village. (I don’t live in the forest.) And, it was tearing into a meal.

It was nervous. Kept looking up and down the street.

Every few seconds it would try to lift its prey in its teeth and drag it off—presumably, to its den—but it was having a terribly difficult time. This was not a small snack. This, judging by the length and shape of its legs, was a hare.

I was transfixed by this brutal display of nature. I felt sad for the animal being eaten, but I wanted the fox to be successful in dragging this dead thing off of my yard, so I was cheering for it.

The fox sat down then, beside its victim. Taking a break from killing and eating.

Then, the fox’s ears perked up. A truck was coming.

The fox stood up, grabbed the carcass and started taking off with it.

But it was too big. The dead animal fell from the fox’s mouth onto my driveway.

The fox darted across the road right in the path of a large 3/4 ton truck.

A narrow miss.

Thank goodness the fox made it to the safety of the ditch across the road. Today is that fox’s day. I hope it is aware of that and isn’t still mad about the part of its meal left behind on my driveway (not far from the compost bin where I had to put our meal last night).

The hare? The hare was having a bad day. The fox? Well, that’s one fortunate fox.

Message received, Universe.

Some days you’re the fox, and some days you’re the hare. And that’s my mantra for today.

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