When I grow up.........

I always wanted to be a Forest Ranger. From my first trip out west when I was twelve, I was completely amazed by the National Parks, all the stuff the rangers knew and the cool jeeps they got to drive. I was so impressed by their presence; I knew this was the place for me. Well, so I thought. Fast forward through the pressure of making a good living and the trends of society that business was where the American dream was hiding. I had completely forgot about my ambitions until recently. During a summer trip to the state park, we had the opportunity to talk to the park rangers, learn about what they do and what was involved in their jobs. I had mentioned during the trip of the memory that I wanted to be a park ranger when I grew up. I was taken back when he said “Well, why weren’t you?”
Over the past couple months I thought about that question and the memories slowly started to appear. It wasa my first night in Grassy Cove. Coming from a place where cars, trucks and police sirens hummed me to sleep every night, the quiet of the country was a whole other ballgame. As I started to drift off that first night, it was around the time the coyotes started stirring. Before I knew it the howling and wolf like chit chat was surrounding me and I was sure that there were ten or twelve preparing to attack. I pictured the Cujo creatures breaking through my windows and scratching relentlessly on my door until it caved. I woke my husband and asked him if he had his shotgun ready(because I don’t even know how to look at one correctly) for the imminent attack. I am not sure but looking back he was probably grinning so wide that he really couldn’t answer me. Adventure #2 was just about as pathetic. I had never heard of a screech owl or even remember seeing one in a zoo. I was sitting on the back porch one night enjoying the quiet when out of nowhere I heard a child screaming. Maybe even a baby crying. I ran through the house and grabbed Bill and demanding that we hit the woods and look for this poor child. He’s probably lost or scared. I was in a panic. He casually walked out the door and stopped. I am in a rush….get going …this is important…. He turns to me and says “that’s a screech owl” and goes back inside. Well, I obviously stood there a few minutes and decided to trust his observation. I looked out into the dark and scary looking woods and thought “what else could possibly be lurking out there in those trees?”
OK, so I admit that hanging out in the woods, interacting with nature, and being fearless to confront wild animals or other critters was not my calling. Over time I did learn to enjoy the sounds of nature and all its inhabitants, but not enough to step off the back deck on a moonless night.