My Daughter, an 8-Point Buck, and My Car...Things that Shouldn't Go Together

 I couldn't make this story up.  True story.  My daughter got her first 8-Point buck this year with our car!  It was Wednesday night, and we had just finished the Wednesday night service at church. I usually get to church before everyone else in order to prepare to-go meals we feed to local kids in our town.  My husband followed in order to prepare for his service, and my daughter picked up some local teens for our teen service at church.  My daughter left church first to take all of the teens home, and I cleaned up and shut down the church.  Have you ever seen an ambulance or emergency vehicle and thought, "I hope that is not for my child."?  As I watched an ambulance go by, the thought entered my mind.  Shortly after having that thought, I got a call from my daughter telling me she had hit a deer and was parked at the post office.  I immediately pulled into a parking lot and motioned for my husband to pull in after me.  He pulled up and rolled down his window, as I told him we needed to go to the post office.  He gave an affirmation and away I drove.  As I pulled up to the post office, I noticed both girls were fine.  My daughter said that she was just heading back toward home when a buck ran out in front of her.  She slowed down and avoided the deer, but the oncoming car had no such luck.  As she explained it, the deer's head bounced off the side of the oncoming car breaking its antler.  It then ricocheted  into her lane.  She saw its large eyes, tongue stuck out, and one antler as it flew in front of her car and immediately pictured Elliot from Open Season.   She had a quick decision to make.  Veer left, go into a ditch, and hit several road signs, or go right over the top of the deer.  She chose the wiser choice of going over the top of the deer.  After her very bumpy ride, she pulled off the road into the nearest parking lot-the post office- and called me.  As I looked over the damage, she burst into tears apologizing and mumbling, "Dad's going to kill me!"  I reassured her he wouldn't , then started to wonder where he was.  I called.  No answer.  I called again. No answer.  After 4 attempts, I called the home phone that we only use for emergencies and to screen telemarketers.  The answer machine clicked on, to which you could hear me informing my husband to pick up NOW!!!  He answered and I asked where he was.  He response was, "I"m at home."  I asked why he was not at the post office.  He responded, "Why?  Aren't you just mailing a letter?"   My response, "AHHHHH!!! Do you ever hear anything I say?  You're daughter hit a deer.  She's at the post office.  Get over here....and bring duct tape."  I crawled under to car to examine the carnage of deer meat and deer hair from the front to the back of the undercarriage of the car.  No leaks.  Good news.  My husband comes flying into the parking lot.  He says he will examine the car if I go with the girls to let the police officer (also a friend of my husband) just up the road with the other car know that we needed him to write a report on our car for insurance.  As we walk through the dark, I have my daughters look for a missing piece of the car grill (Hey! Those pieces are expensive), and then we viewed the poor, dead deer on the side of the road.  Elliot did not fare well.  We walked back to the car to wait for the officer only to find my husband shirtless under the front bumper.  The girls shrieked, "Dad, put on a shirt!  People will see you!"  He refused stating that he would not ruin a good shirt.  So my shirtless husband and I proceeded to duct tape the front end of the car back together with good, old Southern ingenuity.  When we made the mistake of mentioning the deer was still partially intact, my husband hopped up and told me to wait with the girls for the officer.  He took off in his truck up the road (remember he's shirtless) proceeded to load the dead deer in the back of his truck.  He said that if he was going to pay to repair the car, at least he would get some deer meat out of the deal.  After loading poor Elliot into his truck, he pulled beside us, deer blood and other stuff smeared across his shirtless stomach.  He looked like something off of a Viking movie.  I found hand sanitizer and some napkins and had him at least lessen the look of Braveheart.  I stood beside my daughters and watched my husband race off to process a half car-tenderized deer.  As his friend, the police officer, pulled up, he noticed the look of shock on my daughter's face, so he tried to lighten the mood.  He said, "This probably seems pretty bad to you, but not as bad as me having to see your dad shirtless."  What lesson did I learn from this story?  We can focus on the bad and complain about how bad things happen in our lives.  Yes, the car received damage, but we are blessed to have deer insurance.  Yes, it shook my daughter up, but we encountered a wonderful police officer who was able to make her laugh and feel better about how she handled the situation.  Yes, we will need to repair our car, but our daughters were safe and unharmed.  If we begin to change our perspective from focusing only on the negative to recognizing the blessings in spite of our situations, we will alleviate a lot of stress and gain peace and maybe even some good humor in the circumstances.  Best of all, I did not include a picture of my husband, Viking-style, with his freshly acquired 8-point buck.  You can thank me later!

Have a great week high-heeled warriors!