I for one, am not afraid of snakes. Now, I have a healthy respect for snakes, that is for sure. But it's the same respect I have for dogs...I don't just reach out to touch them before I am sure it is safe to do so. But I will admire from a distance and appreciate them, dogs and snakes.
I also appreciate when I have the opportunity to see a snake in its natural habitat. It seems we are usually so disconnected from nature that we never really get an opportunity to experience the real deal. Here, at our home in Escondido, Ca. we are sometimes fortunate enough to meet the wilderness eye to eye. And that's what this story is all about.
It began one weekend with my husband coming to find me. We were both outside in our yard, but given that we have almost an acre of space, it took us a minute to meet up. He told me he had just been scared almost to death by a snake! And, good husband that he is, he knew I would love to experience Snake for myself.
I was so excited. I hurried over to the area where Snake was when my husband found him. Sure enough, there she was!
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| Snake |
Now Snake really wanted nothing to do with me or my husband. But she kindly allowed me to photograph her as she slithered away.
The next day my husband had another encounter with Snake, but I wasn't able to participate this time. But he told me the tale. As he was walking the yard, he just, once again, noticed Snake. This time Snake was approaching one of the many gopher holes that populate our rural garden. As my husband observed, Snake picked a hole and went in head first. As he watched, the snake disappeared completely into the earth. Makes you appreciate there is truly an underground world of which we know little about.
Given that we are not fond of the damage gophers can do to a yard, we were somewhat pleased that this snake was most likely a gopher snake. Perhaps he might do what we could not, kill a gopher. It is a fact that we can't make ourselves kill gophers. We just can't, even when the opportunity presents itself. We have sat and observed the little buggers come up out of their underground caves, snatch a flower and pull it back down into the tunnel. Notice I said "observe". Bye flower.
Anyway, I didn't get to see Snake go undercover. But my husband still shivers when he recalls the snake disappearing before his eyes. Did I mention he is not fond of snakes? He's not.
At any rate, we were both pleased that maybe the natural cycle of life might assist us with our gopher population. You know, a natural way to keep the numbers down since we weren't going to be doing it. However, the story of Snake took another turn a few days later. One that makes me sad still.
A few days after Snake made her appearance into our lives, as I walked to the street to get the mail, I found Snake lying by the side of the road. She didn't show any obvious signs of trauma as far as I could tell. Over five feet of gopher snake lying there. Just like that, she would no longer be able to assist us with the gophers. Just like that she had completed her work in the world.
I couldn't bear just leaving her there even though I knew the turkey vultures would likely find her before too long. I decided to get a stick, gather her up and bring her back onto our property. I laid her down under one of our trees and vowed to get back to the body as soon as possible and bury her in our garden somewhere.
However, before I was able to do so, my husband informed me Snake was gone. The cycle continued with another wild species finding her and doing what comes naturally. It ate her. A day later I found what was left: a one foot long piece of Snake left on the ground in the same area where she had gone underground to find her prey.
Now, you may wonder why I felt it important enough to write about this sad tale. Sad to me anyway. First, I guess I wanted to memorialize Snake a little bit. She really allowed us to see the cycle of life and vicariously participate in it. I also think I wanted to see if those people who had seen my FB post about Snake and had responded negatively, I wondered if they would be sad to hear of her demise. But, there's one more thing my mind ponders. And it's this:
What if we equate her journey with ours? We are here for a short time. We do our thing. Then, just like that, we are gone. The cycle of birth, life, death. Of course, I really don't imagine that Snake was conscious of her place in the universe. I don't imagine she wondered if she had made a difference in her short time on earth. I would be surprised to find out she suffered at all. And yet...
What do I know? After starting to write this story I decided to research a bit. And imagine my surprise to find that more is known about snakes' inner lives than I was aware of. Here's an amazing story to read:
Drats. Well, I am glad that we didn't do anything to harm Snake. I have to come to terms with the fact that in this case the cycle of life played out. While I am sad, I am glad to have been able to see the cycle and been a small part of it. I guess I also hope that, after reading this story, you might think differently about snakes and about the treatment of them. Of course, that could lead to treating other animals better and maybe even other humans.
I hope so.
Here's to Snake, and to snakes everywhere. And, here's to your life's journey. Be sure you are doing your thing, living your life, and appreciating your place in the universe. Wake up each day and vow to marvel at the world and your place in it. Trust in the goodness of life. Don't despair, and never give up.We don't know when the end of our cycle here on earth will come. It will come. Until it does, here's to you and to me.
Hugs and love,
Verna, your soul catalyst
