Crunch! Shriek! Ewww!

Can you see what is in this picture? Let me zoom in for you.

And that's how my story began . . . the day my visit to the local Lawn and Garden store scarred us.

It was a normal stroll through the garden section until a small, rather cute mammal showed up. A mouse! Just like Angelina Ballerina, Gus Gus, and the Rescuers! 

We jumped backwards, startled. And as the mouse scampered towards us, we kept moving away. It may have been cute, but not cute enough to let it near us.

At that moment, a worker gentleman started to walk past our aisle. "Sir?" I got his attention, "I thought you might want to know that you have a mouse here."

His eyebrows shot up as he started to follow the mouse and he said something like, "Oh! We do!"

He started walking after it, presumably following it to know where to set a trap or something. 

The mouse sped up, not too thrilled about being followed, and tried to scamper away. 

And then, with speed like a cat, the man hopped forward and stomped on the mouse with his boot. 

Crunch.

I repeat.

Crunch.

Now, I don't know if I really heard a crunch, or if it was just my imagination  filling in the blanks. But ewwwww, right?

Crunch!

I shrieked.

Then the man stepped back, picked up the flattened mouse by the tail, and left the guts on the floor.

Sorry I didn't get a picture of that part, but, no. No.

I'm sure we had a look of shock on our faces. It wasn't quite the warm and cozy family experience we were planning for. 

But eventually the experience turned into a story that is fun to tell. And that man probably acted like any farmer would have. And, if nothing else, he was efficient. That mouse was gone instantly!

Do you have any stories like that? Experiences that started out . . . interesting . . . but that you are now able to look back on with a different perspective.

Like maybe that experience made you stronger, or smarter, or more aware, or happier, or more merciful. 

What is your mouse?

Note: No other animals were harmed in the making of this blog post. 

"Dang," thought the cat

The cat clung to the branch, praying that it didn't start to rain. Again.

That had been the worst, really. The cold, wet rain that fell without notice and without mercy. Being up in the top of the tree, sitting on a branch that could barely hold the weight was punishment enough. And now it had to rain, too?

"Dang," thought the cat. "I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask for the rain, I didn't ask for the fear of falling. And I sure didn't ask for an empty stomach."

The lady from the nearby house had left a can of tuna below the tree, hoping that the smell would lure the cat down from the high perch.

"That's just mean," the cat meowed to himself. "She's forcing me to look at this food when she knows full well I can't reach it."

As the day wore on, and word of the cat's predicament spread through the neighborhood, all sorts of humans came to gawk at the cat and ask questions. 

"What got him up there?"

"Is the branch strong enough to hold him?"

And the most important, "How is he going to get down?"

The cat rolled his eyes, "Of course I know how I got up here. It was innocent, really. That trunk just looked so enticing. So interesting. So I explored it, of course. After all, I am a cat. But then I saw the first branch. I knew that had to be better than the lowly trunk, so I jumped. Just like any cat would. Each branch had a better looking branch above it, so I kept jumping and climbing."

"There is no problem with jumping and climbing. I've heard that's normal for a cat."

"And I know that I can get down. I know that I can go back. But it scares me. Even though I see the tuna waiting for me, I can't bring myself to do it. Besides, there is no reason to get down. I'm up here in this tree, and I am comfortable. Really. No really, I am."

"I wouldn't call this being stuck, I'd call it . . . a life choice."

Bit by bit, his stomach slowly began to growl louder. Drop by drop, the rain slowly began to fall. Little by little, the branch slowly started to crack. 

He would have to get down. The whole time wishing he had never gone up.

Today the cat spends its time sponsoring other cats and teaching about the dangers of trees. 

Betrayal in the produce section!

I go to the kitchen and decide to eat a plum. I can't wait to bite into the plump, juicy fruit! As I go to wash it and take off the sticker, I find this!

This happens to me ALL THE TIME. It makes me so mad. I've decided that the produce companies do this on purpose. If a piece of fruit has a blemish, they'll cover it up with the sticker if at all possible. Thus my seemingly perfect snack is actually mushy and sick looking.

People do this to themselves all the time too. We naturally want to cover up our flaws and imperfections so that we seem as perfect as possible. 

But there is not flaunting your trials, and then there is covering them up to try and trick someone.

I've been betrayed by a plum!

But don't worry, not all is lost. The produce section isn't completely out of hope. I'll be more careful in the future, that's for sure. Maybe check under the stickers from now on. But a lot of good plums come out of the produce section too. Not all plums have a mushy spot under their sticker.