Lions, Oh My!

We are extremely lucky to live in the middle of the forest. Our little neighborhood is a small pocket, surrounded by wilderness.  In the year and a half that we have lived here we have seen wild turkeys, elk, rabbits, a fox, a golden eagle, numerous birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and even pesky skunks and racoons.  I consider myself lucky to call these critters my neighbors.  But something happened tonight that put all of them to shame.  Tonight I saw my first mountain lion.  And he just happened to be walking across my front yard.

I have always wanted to see a mountain lion in the wild, but in that kind of way that you might want to witness a tornado.  Yes, it would be amazing and beautiful, but it's also terrifying and life threatening.  I never actually expected to see one, and not so up-close-and-personal.  I was just starting to cook dinner.  The kids were taking turns playing games on my phone in the living room, and I was peacefully chopping garlic in the kitchen.  From my kitchen I have a wide open view of my entire front yard, and as I was glancing up at the kids, something caught my eye.  For a brief moment, I thought it was my dog, but I quickly jolted to reality, when I realized there was a very large, very real lion, meandering across my driveway.

For a moment I was paralyzed.  I mean, there was an actual lion in my yard.  Then I ran to the window, heart pounding out of my chest, for a closer look.  Just as he disappeared behind a tree, I came to my senses enough to grab my phone from the kids to take a picture.  He reappeared in an open area of my yard, and although he was taking his sweet time, I almost missed him because my hands were shaking so hard.  But by some miracle, I managed to snap a few photos of the magnificent creature.  Thank goodness, I retained enough mental clarity to realize this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for Tes, and I lifted her up to get a look, just as he was disappearing at the edge of our property.  "Wow..." she breathed as he slunk out of sight.

A little while later, as I was trying to regain my composure, Tessie walked up to me in the kitchen.  "Mommy, we are so lucky to live here." she said.  "I have seen so many wild animals!" and she listed all the animals she had seen since we moved in.  Through my terror, I was able to appreciate that she was right.  What kid gets to see all these wild animals, in their own backyard, and have the presence of mind to appreciate it.  I looked at my daughter in sheer amazement, and tried to absorb her calm.  She still wont be allowed outside for awhile, you know, on account that she may be eaten, but it was a beautiful sentiment.