and I ran into a squirrel. The little guy was about six feet from me and when we saw each other we both stopped. Our eyes locked for a moment and I began to wonder what was running through that cute little squirrels mind. I was thinking "man what a cute little squirrel, we should hang out and play video games after I finish my daily chores." Somehow over the course of my life and his our paths had crossed at this exact moment. It almost seemed too good to be true. Me and this little squirrel could be BFFs. Then I started thinking about what was running through his head. The poor little guy was waiting for my next move because he was deathly afraid that I was going to attempt to murder him. I was thinking "OH OH FUN A CUTE LITTLE SQUIRREL" and he was thinking "OH GOD SHARK IN THE WATER, PREDATOR PREDATOR, WHAT SHOULD I DO!?!?" And out of no where I felt terrible that I had given the poor little guy such an emotional scare when really there wasn't a murderous bone in my body. I didn't even want to hurt the squirrel a little bit... So I continued on my walk and he proceeded to run to the nearest tree scaling it with expertise and quickly hiding on the back side out of my view in hopes that I wouldn't continue my pursuit or lack there of... All of this reminded me of a time when I was about five years old...

When your five years old everything seems new and each experience brighter and more wonderful than the next. The sky is more blue, the grass is greener, and there is an insatiable lust for new knowledge and experience. Its sort of like being in love for the first time except for without any strings attached. Everything in essence is sort of perfect. I ran out of my back door of my childhood home down the hill into a small wooded area where My siblings and I often played. It was summertime and I was five years old on a beautiful day so I was basically in heaven. I remember my eyes darting around and looking for what excitement I could find on this amazing day. I could have climbed a tree, grabbed a stick, or ran around like a chicken with its head cut off. While I was debating which pointless yet extremely awesome course of action I was going to take something caught my eye. It was a little squirrel scurrying all around the small area. It was then I knew what I had to do. I had to chase that squirrel. I took off after it at full speed. I continued to pursue it until It ran directly up a very tall tree. At the time it would have been unreasonable to scale it, so I looked straight up to see where he had ran off to. I had just tilted my head far enough upward to watch the squirrel drop a walnut from about 15 feet directly on my forehead. Being the five year old that I was that was some pretty serious damage that i had suffered, so I immediately ran back to my mommy to report that I had been attacked by a squirrel. Given the circumstances you would have thought that I would have learned my lesson but some lessons are sometimes forgotten.  Over a decade later I witnessed first hand history repeating itself.

When your sixteen years old all the colors aren't so bright anymore. The sky is more dull, the grass is just grass that probably eventually is going to need to be cut, and all those nagging responsibilities that are calling out to you don't seem very enticing. I had already felt the sting of heartache and I wasn't too curious about new knowledge or experiences, I was more interested in honing my body into a weapon. During this process I found out that I could outrun and even catch up to slowly moving vehicles, so when I was staying at my step dad's farm near Madison and he had told me if I caught a wild cat and brought it back to the house that he would give me twenty dollars I thought I had won the lottery. Wild cats however aren't like house cats. Not even a little bit. House cats are friendly and let you pet them. Wild cats wouldn't think twice about clawing your eyes out for food, but being the stubborn, hard headed, speed demon that I was I knew that twenty bucks would soon be mine. I took off on a full sprint for the first one I saw and man was I gaining on him. At the bottom of the hill near the garage I was right on his tail and with one swooping grab I cradled him into my arm. Triumphantly I began my walk back up to the house. I was victorious. My speed had availed me and I was going to collect that twenty dollars at the top of the hill. About halfway up the hill however the cat turned, anchored its back feet against my forearm with its hard claws and bit as hard as it could into my thumb. Its teeth completely pierced my thumb and it had escaped unscathed. I walked back up to the house without the cat and did not receive my money and on that day I learned that Wild Animals much like most people Don't Like to be Chased.