There's a deer that's decided she lives in our neighborhood. She eats the roses, pulls up new plantings, and terrifies the dog. Not even people scare her away. She's so certain of her place that she seems indignant when a neighbor, waving a beach towel, finally freaks her out. She reacts by leaping over a few fences. She'll go to another yard for now, but she'll be back. This is her place, and she has comfortably set down roots here.
Our yards are merely rooms in her house. She'll stay as long as the food is good and the atmosphere mellow. She has no mortgage, she doesn't own a thing, the rent she pays is sassy deer attitude and her grocery bills are non-existent. . She has nothing except her "deer-ness" to give, yet my world is a better place because of her entertaining self. She's a feast for the eyes, a T.V. show for the dog, a gardening challenge, and an exciting and surprising call-of-the-wild addition to an otherwise ordinary urban day. Up close, deer are really big! It's like having a small horse back there. It's exciting.
May we all take so little and add so much to the world.
