Remember the last time you had no idea what to do? That thing that in the end made you feel like a baller? Even though you probably haven’t had the exact experience I’m about to share, I’m sure you can relate.
Didn’t see this coming
What have I done? I turn around to look nervously at my upstairs windows before continuing to walk away. It’s 11:30 at night, and one of them is open.
I’ve taken a gamble. Do nothing, and I will have a rotting raccoon corpse somewhere under my second floor floorboards within 30 hours. Open the window, and I will either have two raccoons in my house by morning, or none.
I cross the street to my in-laws house, where my daughter and I have been sleeping for the two nights since we heard the ruckus in our first floor ceiling. My husband is off on a canoe trip. I find myself a single mom for the weekend, unexpectedly camping out at my in-laws house, wondering how the hell to get rid of raccoons on my own before paying an arm and a leg for animal control. My adrenaline is sky high, having been alone with a thirsty, starving raccoon in a dark second floor, nothing but a headlamp to see by and a broom for protection as I open the window.
I pray that the mama raccoon currently pressed against the back windows of my second floor – staring inside with her whole being – I pray she’s smart enough to get her baby and take it away. By now she knows that my home is not safe. Her baby has been locked inside for two days, no food, no water. Why did my husband leave that window open? Who ever heard of raccoons climbing drain pipes?
Can I do this?
Calling the shots on something new can be a great feeling, ya know? To be totally in charge. No possibility of asking someone what they think is the right thing to do. No one to second guess you with a well meaning but patronizing “are you sure?” My husband is gone. Everyone is asleep but the kind neighbor who agreed to sit on her porch to make sure I got out of there ok. It’s all me.
Yeah, I’m going to get this raccoon out of my house.
My gamble paid off. The next morning, the apple piece I left on the window to help mama raccoon get to the right place was gone. That night, no sounds in the floor. No death smells, either, as the days have passed.
Why you’re a baller
I bet you’ve had moments like this. Life shows up in a way you never expected. You aren’t sure how it’s all going to work out until – one step after another – it does. You end up remembering how powerful you are.
A raccoon trapped in my house was one of the more eventful things to have happened in recent weeks. Getting rid of it on my own without the help of my husband or male neighbors (who also weren’t around) made me feel powerful. I would have left it up to them, and I’m so glad it didn’t work out that way. I didn’t realize I was giving away my power by deferring “masculine” activities. I thought I was just allowing things to flow smoothly. Who would’ve thought that an intruder would make me feel so powerful.
What about you? I’d love to hear about an experience where you had to call the shots to solve something you never saw coming. Tell me about how awesome you were. Because you were. Awesome. Leave your story in the comment box! My our energy inspire and cheer each other on. go mama!
