Visitors
Let me preface this piece- you’re not going to believe it. Or, maybe you will, but the point is- it makes me happy & the rest is up to you. I’ve been seeing on social media (because I absolutely refuse to watch TV news or read the newspaper) that animals are making themselves right at home around the world in places where we humans usually drive them away from with our incessant, irritating furiousness of daily life.
Here, at my farm, animals flocking to us is the norm. We have everything here- a giant collection of horses & ponies, ours & other’s dogs, ancient & sassy to youthful & useless barn cats, an infamous pig & even our own little family of wild mallard ducks that drop in almost daily. For a while, some of you might remember I have even housed opossums recovering from various illness or trauma. Yesterday, I thought I might get another, but as it turned out, he (or she) was only a brief visitor. While initially I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to get up close & personal with him (or her), I almost instantaneously realized this critter was looking for me & had a very clear message to share before departing. Here’s how it went down…
There’s a possum walking across the field.
My husband casually called out to me while riding his pony in our covered arena.
Really???
I immediately thought I might carry out the thermal camera we use to investigate heat signatures on our horses to help me find him (or her) in the wild shrubbery that borders our property to the west. Then I thought better of it because I didn’t want to lose time in following the trail. I wandered around looking a bit while I reveled in the fact that my husband never rushes me when I’m on the trail of an unexpected animal. I thought to myself while the beautiful morning just beamed down on me,
He gets it. While I can irritate the hell out of him in our ordinary routine, when extraordinary circumstances appear he is patient because he knows what I can do.
I felt the wind pick up a bit but it was so pleasant, I could not imagine a more beautiful moment to being searching in the brush for an opossum. While I did not feel rushed to return to work, I just knew I would not see the possum. It just felt that way & like I said before the disappointment was only momentary because I just knew the possum was not the thing I was looking for.
He (or she) had intentionally walked across that field calling attention to him (or her) self by ambling casually & looking over repeatedly at my husband, giving him a clear message to pass along to me.
Does that sound crazy to you? I get it. It’s not the first thing that crossed my mind either, but eventually it did & in that moment I simply raised my eye level a few degrees from where I had been watching my step across the marshy spot next to my neighbors fence. When I did, I saw a hidden gate. Hidden behind overgrown brush was the gate that allowed access to our farm when my friend used to live next door.
It’s funny about things that feel newly discovered but we’re there all along. The full message from my possum pal would not become clear until later in the day, but immediately I felt a warmth in remembering my friend & her sister, Adele, who visited often. We had shared a love of horses since I was a little kid riding ponies & it turns out that now, even after her passing I learned that we have a shared love for writing.
Get Mckrell Baier’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
I must digress briefly to explain that I have been thinking a lot about looking for things in all the wrong places. That’s what we do as humans, isn’t it? Especially love & support- we look for it from others, when in fact the only place we will ever find it is within ourselves. I wonder if my friends that have left this physical world enjoy the hell out of coming up with funny ways to yell this at us from beyond.
No more lookin’ for love in all the wrong places
Lookin’ for love in too many faces
Searchin’ their eyes
Lookin’ for traces of what I’m dreaming of
I don’t need anyone else but me to realize the reality of what I’m dreaming of. I’m going to do my best to remember this from now on & when it’s hard, I will smile anyway because I’ll at least remember the day a wandering possum brought me my old friend’s message. I’ll always bless the day I discovered that old hidden gate, & now for the rest of the story. I’m sure you’re wondering how I made that leap from a mid-morning possum hunt to believing, no knowing that I had just been corresponding with an old pal. Well, let me fill you in. At 2:44 PM CDT, I received a “real” message. It came through Messenger as a matter of fact. The message said simply,
Could you make next Friday work?
As soon as I read it, I knew. The horse I will be receiving as the next visitor to my farm will arrive next Friday to begin her training. She is being repurposed, not thrown away or recycled, repurposed. You’ll learn a lot more about (her) in the coming days, but for now all you need to know is that (her) name is
Adele.
You know what else? I just walked into the bunkhouse at my farm to hide away & finish writing this essay. Guess who was singing on the radio? George Jones, The Possum, himself. Now who still thinks I’m crazy? I’ll remind you what I wrote in the first paragraph- regardless of what you choose to believe
it makes me happy & the rest is up to you.
Thanks for the visit this morning, Adele. We look forward to hosting your newest horse starting Friday. I know for sure you’ll be watching over us through the entirety of the journey. And as always, I know
You won’t hesitate to speak up!
