The Fun of Being an Adult

This morning, while I was jogging on the treadmill, a mouse ran across the floor of our basement. Immediately, I shut down the machine and darted after it, if only to see where it would go. Not surprisingly, it was making its break for the opposite wall, where a pile of boxes associated with recently purchased baby items would make an ideal hideout. Cornering the tiny mammal, I looked around for something to trap it with, or, more honestly, I looked around for something to flatten it with. Nothing handy, I was forced to retreat to my workshop where a trap was available. When I returned, that tiny beast had seized his chance to disappear, much to my chagrin.

With mouse on the mind, I went upstairs for a broom and dustpan, hoping I could use these tools to hunt down the wily fiend. On my way upstairs, it occurred to me that dealing with mice - with any pest, really - is one of the joys of being an adult. When you are a kid and a mouse is discovered nearby, the matter is left to an adult. At my house as a kid, finding a mouse in the vicinity was a great rarity, but, if it happened, my dad would have surely been tasked with eliminating the metaphorical varmint. Now I was the dad - er, am the dad - and the task is mine. Was there a way out of dealing with this chore, which I did not ask for, I wondered? No. Would I live up to the challenge? I would have to.

I returned to the basement and, lo, there was the mouse, peaking out at me from beside the box closest to the stairs. Without thinking, I slammed that box up against its neighbor and caught a wild man's dinner in the process. Could it be? Could I have so easily dispatched with this morning's challenge? The mouse looked too peaceful, too whole to be dead. Do mice play dead, I wondered? For good measure, I smacked it again with the broom, then loaded it onto my dustpan for disposal in the yard. This creature would be a delightful find for one of our neighborhood's cats, birds, or foxes.

Once the mouse had been removed, I returned to my workout and completed my morning routine. I am an adult, it would seem. My morning went smoothly thereafter, at least until the car needed unplanned maintenance, and I thought further about how the mouse might have found its way inside. More adult ahead, it seems.

David

Welcome to My New Blog

Greetings and Salutations! I am pleased to launch this new blog, Doses of David, which will chronicle my travels as an individual, family man, nonprofit grant writer and coach, and rental property manager. I hope you find my posts witty and informative, if not useful for your everyday life. At the very least, I hope my posts give you and I pause to consider the meaning and direction of our lives, and to improve ourselves, our families, and our communities through constant reflection and revision. Happy reading!

~David