It's in the Air....

Who can sleep? So anxious to get up and get out in the deer stand - the excitement buzzes in my head as the hands on the clock slowly click by. The alarm clock sounds while the sun not showing through yet and I'm up. I've got my hot water warming for my thermos and my hand warmers being taken out of their packets awaiting to warm my hands in just a matter of minutes. I bundle up, all my lucky clothes - long socks, 7th grade sweat shirt and long johns, plenty warm for the adventure I'm looking to encounter.

All of my orange clothing smells of basement. Being packed away for a year awaiting their moment to shine in the woods. I grab my trusty gun, flash light and thermos - I'm ready for the morning hike to my stand.

The crisp morning air hits my face as I step out of the house. My breath straight-pipes out of my mouth as the dark surrounds me. My flash light shines as a life line to my feet as we make our way into the woods. The walk is still, except for the crunching of leaves and sticks beneath my boots. Arriving at the bottom of my stand I start the trek up the stairs to my comfy fort in the woods.

I made it. I snuggle in - collar up, hat down - with only my eyes available to witness the movement around me. I sit and wait as the world awakes around me. The fog slowly lifts off the pond, the sun slowly starts to warm up the ground around me and the chick-a-dee's become alive with their chatter. Life is good.

Isn't that a great story! It sounds almost perfect... here's my reality.

At very last minute, I decide that I'll pack up me and lil' man and we'll spend the night at the parents. Great idea IF you can sleep at your parent's house. As I'm laying on the couch, I remember that I can't. The furnace and parents make funny noises... so, I am watching the clock keep moving forward yet I'm still not asleep. I may have fallen asleep for a few minutes and like clock work - Lil' man is in desperate need of a bottle. At last I look at my watch it's 3:30 - awesome. It's 4:30 and Johnson's up... It's 6:30 and my alarm clock sounds... Snooze. Snooze. Snooze. Did you know that after snoozing so many times, it shuts off? Oops.

Johnson gets home from his 5am coffee with the guys a little after 7...
Johnson: "So, you gonna go hunting?"
Me: "Oh, ya... I was just getting out of bed." duh.

So, I drag my sleep deprived body off the couch, get dressed in half the clothes that I brought because it's suppose to be beautiful out and I go. At this point, the sun is already up and there is definitely no need for the flash light - so I for go looking for where I put that last night when I packed.

*crunch, crunch, crunch* This is a normal sound of a hunter heading to their stand; however, there is nothing normal about this hunting story. So, I'm crunching through the woods to find that I can't locate my stand. Awesome. I know it was here last year. Oh, look - there it is. Whew. Let the deer slaying commerce. As I make the 10 step, sitting maybe 10 feet off the ground (b/c my loving husband made me a 'pregnancy' stand last year - as to make sure I wouldn't hurt myself if I was to fall) ... I realize there has been some 'stand damage' through out the last year. Damon told me that I shouldn't worry and it appeared as though a 'wind block' had blown down but it should be fine. I get to the top, I realize that it was not a 'wind block' but my seat. Awesome. What the hey - it's not like I'm taking this very serious.... so I pull myself up and there I sit. Orange legs hanging over my floor and resting on the ladder. At this point I realize that when I sit on the floor, I can't see over the boards. Double Awesome. I also realize that I don't have anything to sit on and instantly realize that the 75 degree weather I was dreaming about when I left the house was just that - a dream. Within minutes, I'm already cold and wondering - "Why do I do this?"

It was at that moment that I'm sitting in my stand that I realize love this sport. This year, I'm not as prepared as usual and apparently I'm not as excited as years past since me and snooze button were best buds - but I love this sport. There is no other time during my year that I take time to 'take time'. I was still out early enough to watch the sun start to warm the woods around me. As the trees creek, disagreeing to the cold weather and the birds start awaking around me - it becomes more clear to me than ever why I do this. I don't do this for the trophy buck (however, if my efforts were rewarded with that said buck, I wouldn't be complaining)... I do this because I love the opportunity to sit that close to God and listen. I had multiple chick-a-dees land less than 1 foot from my face, I had a visiting chipmunk and a crow with the funniest noises I've heard in a long time. God did not bless me with a 'dead eye' instead he blessed with the lesson of being humble with 'scope eye'. God did not bless me with a mansion to sit in his playground - he blessed with a ladder and a 10 foot view. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to quietly sit in God's presence. So, big deer or not... God has taught me a lot through my deer hunting years and life truly is good.