Three deer in a row

The sky was blue. Pure, deep blue. To the east the sun brightened the blue to a glow so bright I had to look away. As I brought my gaze down toward the horizon the perfect blue was interrupted by the varying height of trees near and far. The greens of the fir trees locked in shadows while the sun took its time to reach its morning path across the sky. The brush and growth on the knoll were covered with last night’s frost, and glistened magically as each twig and leaf reflected the suns’ low rays. It was the sparkle that first caught my eye. Then, from behind the brush, now releasing thin strands of steam as the sun warmed the icy mix on every inch of the plants, I noticed something else. There was a gentle curl of warm moisture in the air, a proof of some other living, breathing thing in the brush. I looked closely and saw the familiar sight of a white-tailed deer standing in the midst of brush none of us would want to wade through. Just a young deer out foraging for some morning nourishment.

Since I was downstairs early, with our 2-yr old twins, I picked them up to show them the deer. The light was bright, and we had to look toward the east, probably more of a east-northeasterly direction to see the deer. So the glare and reflections off of the glass of windows made it tough for the twins to pick out the deer. We waited patiently and the deer moved slightly, and then a little bit more. With the movement, the twins were able to see the deer. The twins were excited. As we watched, we saw another deer appear in the background, then another. The twins were louder and showing more excitement with the sight of more deer. The deer, ever wary, had stopped, raised their heads to look back to our window. They were checking us out just as much as we were them. The line of vision working for us was also working for the deer. For a moment or two the three of them were lined up, all looking at us. Three heads appearing in a row through the line of breaks in the landscape.

Theodore was thinking of a way he could get outside and get closer to the deer. He just wanted to go outside. Jacqueline, meanwhile, clearly could see the deer looking our way and she reacted a bit differently. She covered her eyes with her hands, but she could not cover the huge grin on her face. Then she threw her hands to her sides and said, “Peek-a-boo!” She could see the deer looking at her and thought a game of peek-a-boo was in order. It was pretty funny. They were both so excited about seeing the deer, and especially seeing the deer looking back at them. Three deer in a row. Soon enough the deer abandoned their unofficial staring contest and sent the twins into a near frenzy with their loping, graceful, high-tailed exit from the knoll and back into the woods. Just as the deer were moving on to something else, the twins, too, were off to the next event of the morning. For a couple of minutes though, it was fun to watch the beautiful clear morning, our amazing twins, and three beautiful deer come together for a moment.