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Jaime Lee Mann

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

August 16, 2018 / by JaimeLee / 13 Comments

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.

(Click for the next post!)

Filed Under: A day in the life, Poetic ramblings

Previous Post: « September 20 = Stir of Shadows Book Launch
Next Post: Life after the pan explosion »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nova says

    August 16, 2018 at 7:09 am

    That’s quite a lesson on life. Let’s try to be a fox! A quick one…..

    Reply
    • JaimeLee says

      August 16, 2018 at 8:36 am

      xo

      Reply
  2. Sally says

    August 16, 2018 at 7:38 am

    ?great little read to start the day!

    Reply
  3. Sally says

    August 16, 2018 at 7:38 am

    ?great little read to start the day!

    Reply
    • JaimeLee says

      August 16, 2018 at 8:37 am

      glad you liked it! It’s the nature channel over here!

      Reply
  4. Darrell Chaisson says

    August 16, 2018 at 11:58 am

    Great account of life in general.

    Reply
    • JaimeLee says

      August 16, 2018 at 9:06 pm

      Thanks, Dawoo xo

      Reply
  5. Betty Mann says

    August 16, 2018 at 8:33 pm

    I guess this is life and we have to learn to accept it. I use to get upset at Oliver for killing little birds and squirrels – then someone in our household reminded me that it is their nature and we must respect that fact!

    Reply
    • JaimeLee says

      August 16, 2018 at 9:05 pm

      Nature isn’t always pretty!

      Reply
  6. Shannell says

    August 19, 2018 at 4:24 pm

    Wonderful perspective as always, and precisely what I needed to read today 🙂

    Reply
    • JaimeLee says

      August 19, 2018 at 6:13 pm

      Foxy lady!

      Reply
  7. Shelby says

    August 20, 2018 at 7:52 pm

    I know that I actually saw the dead rabbit, (and dad scooping it up with a shovel to put it in the woods…) but it’s still so sad to re-read the story of what happened. You should definitely warn the Easter Bunny. (There are mean foxes around our house and the Easter Bunny can’t be scooped up in a shovel and thrown into the woods….)

    Reply
    • JaimeLee says

      August 21, 2018 at 5:44 am

      Hear that, EB? Be careful out there next spring!

      Reply

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