A Strange Coincidence and the Fantastic Fox

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Now, onto the story of the day: 

A Strange Coincidence and the Fantastic Fox

One of the stories fom A STRANGER'S KINDNESS that really happened, and is still relevant today.

    "Baby, what's wrong? Talk to me," I said to The Scribe.
    "You'd never understand."
    We drove in our dilapidated van, up a dusty road on Antelope Island.  The kids were having a hard time with the divorce, and this was my way of trying to make things better.
    "This place sucks. It's dead!" The Scribe practically spat the words at me.
    The Zombie, my son, rallied to my side. "Don't be mean to Mama! You know they had to get divorced. They weren't happy when they were together. It was bad for everybody, and you know it. Mama is trying to have fun with us right now."
    "I know this is hard," I said. "But you never know what great surprises are waiting in the future for us.  Even in a place like this.  Just open your heart to accept the good in things."
    The Scribe refused to concede or look at any of us for that matter. Instead, she remained glued to the passenger-side window, and none of my four kids said another word for a while. 
    I curved to the right, following the bumpy road, moving quite slowly despite my eagerness to reach the salty beach. "Look hard, kids. You might see some deer, antelope, maybe a buffalo."
    "We won't!" The Scribe said. "We won't see any—"
    Then the van was screeching to a halt, and my hands tightened against the wheel. A blur of brown had jumped high in front of my van. My heart raced, my teeth gritted, and I involuntarily threw my right hand out and pushed The Scribe hard into the front passenger seat.
    "Oh. My. Gosh!" The Scribe whispered, breathlessly looking ahead.
    Dust swirled around the van, as if the five of us had been taken up with Dorothy in her Kansas cyclone. The Zombie and Dr. Jones quickly unbuckled themselves, stood, and stared out the front windows, waiting for the dust to clear.  The Hippie smiled with pure wonder.
    When the dirt dissipated, all three of us gasped. In front of the van—right in the middle of the road—stood the largest brown and orange fox I'd ever imagined. Its ears eternally perked; he eyed us at an angle and then studied us straight-on. He stayed there, breathing deeply, and it wasn't until moments had passed that I realized he wasn't looking at me or my three youngest kids; he was staring directly at The Scribe. I glanced at her and tears had brimmed her eyes. "Wow," she said. "Who would have thought we'd see him, in a crappy place like this."
    I couldn't help but smile. The fox whipped his tail high, turned his head, and jumped into the brush, leaving our sight forever.
 

Almost two years passed from this moment, 

until we shared this story 

with anyone else....

 

    "You two better not make me cry," Kara, my best friend said to my kids as we got ready the morning of my wedding. Then she followed-up with another thought. "Do you really think we'll see some wildlife while we're out there?"
    "Of course, we will," The Zombie said. "The last time we went to Antelope Island, we saw a fox!"
    "A fox! You lucky kid." Kara winked at him.
    "Why did you decide to get married at Antelope Island anyway?" she asked, pinning a stray hair back into Dr. Jones' half-bun.
    The Scribe cleared her throat and turned to Kara. "One of the last times we were there, it was just me, the other kids, and Mom. I'd had a bad day, and I didn't want to be at Antelope Island—everything seemed dead there. But Mom kept talking about how amazing things can happen when we least expect them. That's when we saw a fox." She paused and smiled out the front window.  "The fox is like Mike. When we were going through a hard time, he just sort of showed up.  We needed him...  That's why when Mom asked us to help her pick a place, we all picked Antelope Island."
 

 And now present day,

the fox story has come up again....

    The book about how I fell in love with Mike is complete, and ready for the release date on Monday 2/27.  I'd just written a press release that ended up being shared on the very front page of an eNews site.  I'd also heard back from a TV station, saying they would like to interview me on Studio 5 in Utah!

    As I drove home from work, I tapped the wheel to some music, and just thought about how strange life is.  I have worked so hard in the past to promote my writing; working, but never going anywhere.  Yet now, all of these things are falling into place.

    I sang loud, took a sip of my coffee, and turned right on a connector that takes me from the nice side of town to the country part that we live in.  I was just about to reach for my coffee again, when a blur of brown jumped high in front of the truck. 

    I swerved to a stop, watching as a majestic fox ran to the side of the road, then turned, sat down, and just stared regally at me.  It stayed forever, until I was actually the one to leave.  The whole time, it had looked at me like it knew me--to the very deepest part of my soul.  An overwelming feeling of gratitude flooded my heart.  Not only have I been very fortunate, but to see a wild fox again...that was amazing! 

    I know we all have special moments like this. But, for me, life is sort of magical right now.  I'm not totally sure why so many miracles seem to be happening all of the sudden, more easily than before.  I'm just going to embrace this while it lasts.  I'm so happy--I just want to share this feeling with everyone :)

     

    Some people would say the fox doesn't mean anything.  What do you think? 

    The TV interview will be aired in Utah at 11am today.  I'll post a link if they send me the video afterward.  Wish me luck! I hope the advice I shared will hope someone--and I also hope it'll interest people in the book!