A few years ago, we had a tiny little friend who would come visit us every night on our front porch. [NO – this was not the tiny little friend who visited INSIDE our house – that’s a different story!!] This was a baby opossum, and he would climb and wiggle his way into my cat’s food bowl to eat some of her dry leftover cat food. While I never seemed to snap a picture of him (I know, shocker!), hearing the sound of the bowl tipping on the porch would cause us to come running to the windows. “Tippy” (and probably his identical relatives) visited us many times over the years. We were smitten. In fact, every time we witnessed an opossum who had met his untimely death on the side of the road, we hoped against hope it wasn’t Our Tippy.
Our 19 year old kitty died about two years ago, and during that time we’ve had no visits from Tippy or his progeny. No cat bowl = no Tippy, it seems. Sigh. That was, until a few days ago.
Remember, we are living in the State of Mayhem since our house flooded in December. At times, I will put things on the back deck (including the huge trash bag) during the day to make space to work. This particular night, I was heading to the deck to bring it in, when I noticed some movement outside….
Awwwwww….. It was Tippy! He was here to visit! I ran to grab my camera, turned on the floodlights and plopped myself down on the floor in front of the sliding glass door. Tippy and I had a wonderful visit… I reminisced about all those noisy nights on the front porch, while he tried incessantly to break into our steel-reinforced Hefty bag. {Note to self: It seems that Contractor’s bags are impervious to opossum teeth!}
After what seemed to be too short of a visit, Tippy came right over to the window to say goodbye to me. The look in his eye seemed to say so much…. “I promise I’ll be safe out on the roads.” “When are you getting a new cat, for crying out loud??” “How about going back to using the old trash bags….” or perhaps….. “Nice bunny pajamas, Suzy!”
But really, it was his smile that left an impression on me – and perhaps it will on you, too. It reminded me that smiles make everyone feel better.
So, as I stood up and went back to life in Mayhem, I silently thanked Tippy for his smiley visit. It was long overdue.
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What are some of your encounters with creatures from The Great Outdoors? Be sure to share them by leaving a comment – and if you have time, read the story about our surprise living room visitor HERE.