Mother's Day is around the corner and I even managed to get something in the mail on time for my mom. This is quite a feat in my scattered schedule.
The girls have been talking about what they are making me at school. I can't wait to see the stuff.
So on Monday morning at 6:45 I groggily went to the guest bathroom in the hall to do the obvious, and looking up at me from the toilet bowl in the dim morning light, with a chilly and slightly embarrassed expression on its face, was a baby opossum...
IN my toilet.
Not thrashing around or hissing, just sitting there submerged like a little furry alligator with its forehead eyes, ears and nose just above water level. Looking at me with a half concerned but mostly uncomfortable expression.
My first reaction was, "Get the camera!" But it was fleeting because the little bugger looked so cold I thought I'd better get him out of there. Now I'm kicking myself because I could have had my photo op AND saved the little twerp because he had probably been in there for hours, what's 30 more seconds for a portrait?
Oh well. One of those regrets I will carry to my grave.
So I figured I could reach around the back of his neck and pick him up like a mama cat picks up her babies. He hissed a little but what could he do? He was in a rather calamitous position at that moment. He basically complied and I wrapped him up in a nice warm towel. He (or she) actually looked rather grateful. As grateful as a humiliated Opossum can look I guess.
Once safe and sound in a box to dry out for the day, he promptly did what his mommy had taught him and played dead. Rob remarked that he admired the dedication of a critter that could lay that still while fleas crawled all over its head... gross. The fleas had gone to higher ground and camped out on Opossum Head Island. I even noticed a tiny hammock and market umbrella by the left ear.
This is some other bloggers "Opossum in Toilet" picture and isn't half as good as the one I would have taken but at least she took one!
I'm so disappointed in myself. I usually don't miss an opportunity like that.
Now the moral of this story... to try and tie this incident, somehow to a business based blog... would be:
Don't overreact to a situation. (not screaming at the sight of the thing)
Take a calculated risk (reaching in with un-gloved hand to pick it up by the back of the neck)
Don't hesitate and miss a once in a lifetime opportunity (photo op)
Have compassion (Didn't flush the little sucker)
Keep nerves under wraps (The fleas on his face GROSSED me out big time but I stayed cool)
Have a great Mother's Day all you fabulous Moms out there. (That's just in case I don't get a chance to post again before then... I make no promises :-)
3 comments:
Hey Jen!
what wonderful surprises turn up in unexpected places!!
Hope all is well in CA. I am hanging out in Greenville, South Carolina right now. We have definitely been spoiled so far on the road. I am loving life on tour though. tell phoebe and lil hi for me!
-Sarah
Ah, youth on tour. How devine! We will miss you this summer. But may we have an autographed CD when you get famous? Oh goodie!
Happy trails mighty songstress.
Re. the possum. One had the nerve to crawl up into the dryer vent in my Mom's house. It was a nice warm place to curl up and die. The smell was incredibly bad - the neighbors could smell it from the street (and the laundry room is in the house)! Poor Mom had to have sheetrock removed and the possum removed to a proper burial ground.
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