By Becky Nelson
Right place, wrong time. We hear that phrase a lot when accidents occur or disasters strike. I am more fond of the right place, right time phrase. We use that one in the household a whole lot more than we do the other, and I can remember those right place, right time moments of my life much more happily.
I like to think my entire existence is being in the right place at the right time. That my parents ever even met is one of those moments, so I am grateful. The moment I met my husband was one of those “almost never happened” times as we met on a dance floor in a frat house in college and sparked a conversation that we have continued for more than 40 decades.
When we decided to come back to the farm to scratch out a living 45 years ago was one of those moments. My father was hurt at work and was tossing around the idea of selling the farm. We were young, fearless and made a plunge that I would never have made if we had been older and wiser. Right place, right time.
The night I went into labor for my precious daughter, the moon was just a day shy of full and clouds drifted over it with a little spritz of snowflakes flying in the air, an unusual November sight and a most memorable blessing as I went to work to become a mom for the first time. Just the right place at the very right time to have this lovely memory burned into the fabric of what became the most awesome of tasks … motherhood. It helped to calm me and encourage me in the most frightening experience any woman can have, loaded with daunting responsibility and trepidation and a bit of joy, too.
The same occurred with the birth of my son on an unusually warm May day, just a day after celebrating Mother’s Day with my own mom, after transplanting tomato plants a bit earlier in the season than usual. I went into labor just as I finished the task. Right time for a celebration of being a mom, and the farm is always the right place. I remember the sounds of birds and the warmth of sun and the smell of the earth … all precious in my memories of my second chance to be a mom, again blessed with an amazing child to help guide through early life and teach and coach to become an independent human.
I have had a few less significant moments of right, right, of late. I was heading from home to my store to close up one evening and saw a woodcock crossing the road. I had only seen woodcock in the past when walking in the woods and then only fleetingly as they flew out from under my feet or the middle of the roadway. I had never witnessed the interesting, jerky way in which they walk. I, of course as I always do, looked up the bird and its habits and found this jerky walk is thought to be an adaptation that helps the bird sense mudworms in the soil … a staple of their food. I felt privileged to be able to see this interesting bird.
In other right places, right times, I saw a sparkly dragonfly, a “hole” in the forest that looked like an eye, and a woolly bear caterpillar with only one black band (does that mean winter will never end when it starts?) I always have my phone camera in hand, so was able to snap photos of all these fun things. Not only was I in the right place at the right time, but I was looking. I find it exciting to see the unexpected and the “new.” I find it a little bit of relaxation and peace in a stressful day, and a good way to relieve the everyday angst of getting things done and go, go, go.
I hope you have a weekend of right place, right time coming up.
