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September 19, 2006

How to be grateful for coincidence

There was a vulture in the road yesterday when I drove down the hill onto our road. I have seen them in the sky but never on the ground, and this one stood in the middle of the street, pecking at a squirrel carcass. It was uninterested in my car or me, though it did move onto the grass when I drove up next to it, a flap of squirrel hanging from its beak.

When I got home I told Moo and Herself, who were just as uninterested in me as the bird had been. But really, it was pretty cool seeing one of those things up close.

I had to work last night and after I tried to excite my children about the Wonders of Nature, I headed upstairs to change into my gym clothes. No air ever moves on the top floor of our house, and yesterday was warm and humid. I turned on the floor fan in my bedroom. Bob brushed my legs and sniffed the fan. I bent down to turn the fan higher. There was a snap and a hiss, and the fan sparked and burst into flames. I jumped back. Bob jumped back. I grabbed the cord and yanked it out of the wall, and the snapping sounds stopped; the fire died down into plastic-scented smoke.

Every day during the summer that fan was on while I was at work. Except for yesterday, because I had forgotten to turn it on before I left the house.

Posted by JudyLa at 06:00 AM | Comments (0)