Oh, What a Day!

This morning I woke up with energy to spare.

This was a day to accomplish great things.  A day to check off the many items on my to-do list that keep reappearing day after day because I just don't get around to them.  This was the day to make all those phone calls, to mop the kitchen floor, to take down curtains and wash them, to wash the windows, to organize the closets, to mow the grass, to strip the bed and wash the sheets.  This was the day to write that pesky book, to finish painting those baseball caps, to walk to the park and breath in the fresh autumn air and dream the wildest most daring dreams.

So why is it that such a perfect day can be ruined in one simple act?  An act that is so common, so ordinary.  I simply opened my mail.  No it wasn't an unexpected bill.  It was my monthly investment statement.  Oh Hell's Belles!  My portfolio took another hard hit by the stock market and I only have half of my investments in the stock market.  No wonder my broker called Friday for a little friendly chit chat.  He has never done that before.  (When you are as poor as I am, the brokers don't bother with you.) 

If things continue as they are now, when I really need the money it will all be gone.  I started to panic and then started to cry.  All those years of saving so that I could retire and travel are now all but gone.  What am I going to do?  I could truly understand why business men jumped to their deaths during the great recession. 

I was feeling that low but managed to pull myself together and do some ho-hum work.  (That is housework to those who enjoy it.  Personally, I find housework to be the most boring activity anyone can do and avoid it whenever possible.)  Then rather reluctantly I headed over to Darrell's house to spend the evening as promised.  Believe me, the mood I was in, I would not have gone if he had not sounded so pathetic when I told him I had things that needed to be done.

He suggested we go to Monk's Mound for a little walk.  I agreed but wasn't sure why he would want to climb up those steep mounds.  Turns out he had other ideas.  There is a path that runs through a stretch of woods on the Mounds property where perhaps one hundred wild deer live.  His intention was to startle some deer so that they would run and show themselves to us.  We walked all the way through the wooded area and only saw one lonely deer.  Once through the area we had the choice to turn around and retrace our steps back through the woods or walk along the edge of the woods in an open field back to where we began.  Since we were unable to stir up any deer in the woods I suggested we walk back along the edge. 

Wow! am I glad we went that way.  The deer were everywhere grazing on the tender grass in the fields.  We hadn't gone far when we saw three, then four more.  Once they spied us they shook they fluffy white tails at us and entered the woods out of sight.  One big doe decided to stand her ground and would not budge as we slowly walked towards her.  Finally she snorted, flicked her tail and left us standing alone.  We must have walked a mile around the woods stopping every once in a while to point at two or three deer quietly grazing. 

The finale came at the end of the trail.  The open field at the edge of the parking lot where we left the vet we saw eighteen deer grazing on sweet grass.  This must be a regular event because there were several cars parked on the edge of the parking lot with people taking pictures and watching through binoculars at these lovely animals.

Yes, I am still worried about my financial future, but today was still a day to remember.  The days go by so much faster as I grow older.  Remember how slowly the days pasted while we were in school?  Not any longer.  I will try to shake off the feeling of dread and remember, this was a special day.