the woods in November ... just me and the trees
Have you ever had wildlife decide to live where they aren't wanted? We live in an older home and (mostly) co-exist with the mice that roam our walls. Periodically they will leave, um, hints (you know what I mean!) that they are around, we get our bait traps filled up and then all go back to pretending it's just humans living in our house.
But the skunk. Oh geez. That turned out to be a bigger issue. It had been cruising around all summer but, like the mice inside, we had co-existed without incident. That is until the weather turned colder and Mr Pepe Le Pew started to actively mark his territory. In short, for the past week and a half, the air has been thick with skunk smell. Like, don't even want to stand outside stinky.
Something needed to be done. Enough was enough.
Today we had someone come and trench all the way around our shed, and install wire to prevent more digging along with a one-way door with the hope that Pepe Le Pew would exit at night and not get back in. Apparently, he will still look for a place to go but the animal guy tells me that it would likely not be to my neighbour's sheds (hopefully that's true but it's anyone's guess if you ask me).
Time will tell if this solution works but in the meantime, I've been thinking about a couple of things I learned during skunk-gate that I wanted to share with you.
Don't wait until it's so bad you can't stand it.
We have known about this skunk since at least June. We had gotten into the habit of not letting dogs out at night so they wouldn't be sprayed. We looked twice before walking onto the back deck. We were aware but somehow it never seemed bad enough to do anything about it.
As I watched the guys work this afternoon I wondered what else in life I am ignoring because I don't want to deal with it? What else is there that could make life better if given just a small amount of intention instead of waiting until it was practically on fire? Or, in this case, mind-blowingly smelly.
Is life a one-way door?
As I stood outside examining the one-way door contraption for our skunk friend I thought about metaphorical doors I've walked through and never gone back.
I had a flashback to my last day of work in my banking days standing at the elevator with my belongings. I remember wondering if anyone would miss me. I remember thinking how hard it would be to walk back into that office again. I knew I would never be the same person I was in that moment. And, deep down, the truth that once I walked through that door I wouldn't go back.
When we walk through doors in life, even if it appears we can go back, we never return the same. Life always moves on.
What are you ignoring in life? Have you walked through doors knowing there's no going back?
I sure hope Pepe Le Pew has a graceful exit tonight and the air returns to its "fresh" urban smell. I'll be back next Friday with more perhaps a less stinky topic (ha). In the meantime, I wish you a restful weekend.
Walking forward with gratitude,
Sarah