The Present

IMG_0577-8I was dragging my heels, really not very motivated to run today. I had plenty of excuses to fall back on: I was tired; it was a cold and rainy day; it was Halloween so I had to rush back to dish out goodies for ‘trick or treaters’.

I didn’t feel much better once I started my run. I was feeling guilty that I hadn’t been more productive lately with my writing. You see, I’m due to receive feedback from my editor on BREAKDOWN in mid November. I’m excited to get this feedback and look forward to incorporating the changes into my manuscript. During this waiting period, I’ve given myself a bit of a break from writing new material for the third book. So as I pushed through my run my mind was distracted, debating whether I should be doing more with my writing.

As all of this was going through my head, I turned a corner on the trail and came face to face with a deer. It stood right in the middle of the trail in front of me before meandering off into the brush. In and of itself, I suppose it’s not that big a deal to see a deer in the woods. But when I consider the fact that I venture onto this trail at least five times per week, and have been doing so for the last fifteen years and had only seen one deer, well, I consider this chance encounter to be special. The special moment also served as a reminder for me to not fret about the past or worry so much about the future, but rather to appreciate the gift of the here and now, of today. As the saying goes, that’s why they call it a present.

As for what the young deer was wearing on its antler in my attached video, it looked to be some kind of moss or brush. Then again, it was Halloween after all, so perhaps this wild life was getting ready for a wild night!