SKUNK!

What a lovely evening it started out to be. The sunset was all reds and golds, rain clouds gathered toward the east, occasional flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder. Too nice to spend indoors. Covered patios are made for this weather and I went outside to sit in the coolness of a light rain turned downpour and thought about recent events in my life.

I have met a man who has brought happiness back into my life. He meets my initial criteria of "nice", "intelligent", "playful", but he's so much more. He challenges me, he makes me think, he pampers me without suffocating. Our time spent together is fun and we don't ask much more of it right now. Both are awaiting divorces to be final - we know we're in the rebound zone. But he is in California attending his daughter's wedding, and I must admit I miss the company of my new, dear friend.

I sipped the beverage and looked out at the flashing lightning to the east, the waning sunset to the west, when a movement caught my eye at the edge of the patio. I looked. Just at the edge by the gutter downspout, where the deck meets the patio and the ground drops precipitously away, I thought I saw an animal in the dark. In less than a second I focused clearly on black with dual white stripes. I screamed, I told it to get out of here (I did!)! I gauged the distance from my comfy lounge chair to the back door, triangulated by the distance to the skunk. I hesitated no longer, made a run for the door, and then collapsed on the floor laughing at myself. I turned on the patio lights, but my visitor had gone.

What a lovely night this has been. If this isn't nice, what is!