Choices

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
Viktor E. Frankl
Okay, but here is what happened to me this morning. I got into my car to go to the grocery store. I backed out of the carport and pulled out onto the street. About a block down the street, I noticed a mouse running along my windsheild wipers. It took a second for this to register because I had never seen nor heard of such a thing before. This was quite distracting, so I pulled over and thought I need a stick or something to get that mouse off of my wipers. I grabbed the only tool I could find - the ice scraper. As soon as I got out of my car and walked up to my windshield, the mouse ran under the hood and wouldn't come out. So, I made my first choice thinking, "Okay, I can't catch the mouse, so I'll just drive to the store - it's only a few more blocks - and then figure out what to do about the mouse."
Being an avid Car Talk fan, I vaguely remember Tom & Ray saying that having a mouse in your engine was not really a good thing. I started up the car again and the mouse came back out. I could see his little head as it poked out of the place where the windshield wipers go down (whatever that is called). I think the mouse was trying to find some shelter from the wind. I slowed down again to pull over and the mouse came back out onto the windsheild wipers.
Now, I feel that I would like to interject something here. I don't hate mice. I mean I don't want them in the house, but if they're outside, they're fine with me. When I was a little girl, we had pet mice. (Okay, so that's kind of weird.) I really didn't want for any harm to come to the mouse, I just wanted for it to get off/out of my car. So, I made my next choice. As soon as the mouse was back on my windsheild wiper, I turned them on. This sent the mouse flying - much farther than I had expected.
I felt sort of sorry for the mouse because mice are not supposed to fly. But this did not compare to my horror as I looked in the rearview mirror. A crow swooped down and was chasing my mouse. It looked like the mouse was getting away, but my mouse was probably still disoriented from the flight it had just taken.
I still don't know if the mouse survived, but it has been bothering me all morning - and this was supposed to be a nice Easter Sunday. Now, all I can think about is my mouse. So, I thought I would share my pain on my first blog.
I thought I was making good choices, but I didn't anticipate the crow.