Saturday, March 31, 2001

Rabbit Redux

I just had the most interestingly amazing, yet relaxing, peaceful experiences on my break. Let me try and relate. I went out to the North side of our building. There is a sidewalk running all the around the building, and at about 6 pts, there are little paths of the sidewalk (about3 feet in length) that jut out from the buildings, and connect to the sidewalk. They are spaced at about 2 per side (none in the front, the building faces East), and close to each corner. In between all of this, is grass, and there are cars parked along the sidewalk..got the picture? Anyhow, I was sitting on the North side, near the corner, just around from the front of the building, I'll usually go sit out there in the afternoon (even though it's hot, by this time of day, the building is in the shade, so it's not so bad), today, the temp is about 95, and the humidity's kind of high, there's a light breeze, not enough to move the grass, but slightly noticeable in the trees, and definitely not enough to keep the temperature down.

So I'm sitting there reading some movie stuff, like I usually do, leaning against the wall, legs stretched out and crossed when I register movement out of the corner of my right eye. I figured it was just people rounding the corner (a lot of people take walks on their breaks around the building),so I kept reading...I saw the movement again, and looked up this time, and saw no one, but panning down, I saw. Hoping/walking slowly across the sidewalk. Was a rabbit, about normal size..light tan in color..looked a bit skinnier than most, with a little cotton tail. He paused, like crossing a street, then hopped over onto the grass, and began eating. He looked ahead (vision would give him site to those in the front of the building, since this was a main break time) and then back down. I put down my papers, and watched..mesmerized, not sure why..he was about 5-8 feet away from me. I was afraid to make too much of a drastic movement, for fear of scaring him off, so I moved, methodically, putting my papers down,and turning my head to observe..he continued eating..and then..turned his slightly, looked at me..our eyes locked for a moment, I didn't move..so then he just looked around again, and resumed munching grass.

1) my office is in quite a residential area, so, unlike my house, seeing a rabbit is uncommon, and a welcome touch with nature

2) rabbits usually spook very easily

But, hard as I tried, I could not keep from making movements that would normally scare him off, but he just looked at me, and continued eating. Then, he looked around again, and laid down on a spot of mud/dirt,(I'm guessing it was cooler there), and stared towards the building, and me, not looking directly at either. I saw someone walking up the side of the building, and motioned to him about the bunny, he just smiled, and walked cautiously, but alas, the rabbit sensed it, and bolted up, and hopped off towards the front of the building..once the guy had rounded the corner, about 30 seconds passed, and back he came..same spot, eating some more, getting a little closer this time actually, then lying down again. This was repeated another time, when the guy came around again, this time,the bunny moved more towards the middle of the grass to eat, then onto the dirt to rest. I just watched. So intriguing, yet peaceful to see nature so close, sometimes people forget that we aren't the only living creatures trying to survive here, and for those 15 minutes, I was so far away from work, and my computer, and everything, and he was relaxed, at peace, with everything it seemed..he had all that he needed at that moment, food, shade, and the ability to rest. Sometimes we, as humans, forget, that sometimes our most difficult problems, can be solved with the simplest of solutions, a simple patch of grass, some cool dirt, and for that moment in time, he had everything he needed, just made me think *shrug*..so finally,when it came time for me to, I stood slowly, he jumped up, looked at me..hopped back to a safe distance, then watched, as I rounded the corner,little black eyes following me, and then he returned to his peace, and I returned to my madness, but for 15 minutes, we shared peace, serenity, a cool breeze, soft grass, and tranquillity.

I don't know why that struck me like it did..but I just felt touched for some reason and wanted to share it

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