I have a story to tell you!

Posted: April 23, 2020

Hello beautiful clients, What does an emergency room nurse and a bobcat have in common? Well, me of course!

This is my husband. Another day “at the office,” so to speak.

And now let me tell you the story of my “near death” experience with the bobcat. Prior to this I was very worried about Covid-19. Our family is at high risk of exposure due to my husband working in the emergency room, but that fear has been taken over by the reality that I could also just as easily get eaten by a bobcat. Okay, so here’s the story. I am out for a run just before dusk. I finish my loop and get back to my car. I realize I have a little more daylight left and think I’ll just go a little further. My rationale is that I finally have some quiet. There are no little humans talking to me and I really could use the extra time out of the house. I pass my car and keep running down the path. My plan is to just go a bit further. I won’t have time to do the full loop again. I would be running in pitch black if I did the full loop, so I know I need to circle back around soon and head towards the car. When I realize it’s getting dark and it’s time to head back, I turn around. Right there, running full on towards me is a bobcat. I don’t really know what the definition of “face to face” is so I am guessing I was about 6 feet from it. He was obviously following the social distancing rules. Thanks buddy. I pretty much did exactly what you should not do. I screamed exceptionally loudly and ran up the hillside that runs along the well-groomed path that I was previously running on. I had no idea what to do and just knew I needed to get back to my car. There was not another soul out with me on the trails and no other cars in the parking lot. I knew that if I was attacked, I was really screwed. I ran up the hill in a semi-circle attempting to circle back to my car. The Cat (yes, capitalized out of respect for not eating me), decided he would mimic me and also turned around and headed back with me. However, he stayed on the well-groomed trail pacing me while I leap over yucca plants and sage brush scrambling to get distance between us. As I continued my ridiculously uncoordinated efforts of leaping over bushes in the dark, I realized that rattle snakes likely came out to sunbathe earlier in the day as it was one of those epically beautiful Colorado spring days. So it’s at this point that I get my phone out and as I am running and breathing heavily call my husband who is at work in the emergency room and leave him a message that I am at Boulder Valley Ranch being paced by a bobcat and if I don’t come home by the time he gets off his shift, he knows where to find me. The Cat and I do this insanity for about 10 minutes. I think eventually he realized that chasing after a crazy lady up a hill and risking a rattlesnake bite is a lot harder than dipping under the fence and devouring a rodent. I realize this because I hear a blood-curdling scream - yes, they make that kind of noise, Google it. Regardless, I am almost back to my car. I don’t know if he is right behind me screaming in excitement as I am about to be his dinner or if he is screaming in excitement that he found a rabbit to eat instead of me, but I don’t really care. I figure what’s going to happen is going to happen and I am just going to have to keep on keepin’ on. Obviously, I was not eaten. I was not attacked. But I was scared. I’ve taken to heart that often life leaves us with no choice but to keep going. We need to find our way and it might look like fumbling over bushes and crashing over yucca plants in the night, but it’s only by trying to make our way towards safer ground that we can pause, we can reflect, we can catch our breath and plan the next step. When in crisis we cannot stop to reflect, we react. That is okay. That ensures our survival. But when the crisis is over, surviving equates to thriving once we pause, reflect, integrate and plan.

As always, sending love.

Onwards,

Laurel Solé, LCSW

Please click here for scheduling a session with me. www.laurelsole.com