I’m always careful when I hike in the hills to watch for snakes. I see them pretty much everyday, and if I don’t, I sometimes hear them, just the rattlers, in the tall grass. I get to thinking I’m pretty serpent savvy and then I go and do something stupid. Today, I hike up a few thousand feet, then start down the steep part. It’s very dry and the steep ground is hard, so it’s easy to slip. I always carry a stick to swat a the grass ahead of me, just to let the ghetto snakes know I’m coming, but suddenly, I find myself, not on my feet, but on my butt and rolling into the rattlesnake habitat. The whole time, I’m muttering, “Oh please don’t let me land on a snake, Oh please don’t let me land on a snake.”
I didn’t. but it got me thinking that life is like that. Sometimes, you’re feeling cocky, looking at golden swaying grasses and blue sky, and the next minute, you’re face down in hostile reptile habitat.
It always helps to land facing up, where you can say to yourself, “My, what a lovely blue sky.”