:: Friday, May 30, 2003 ::

On my way home from work the other day, while waiting to pull into traffic on a major highway, I looked out my window to see a bunch of baby Canadian geese (goslings?) happily pecking away right next to the highway, their heads barely poking above the grass. There were about five or six of them, covered with greyish down, happily oblivious to the world, while three adult geese stood on alert nearby, black heads high and wary, watching the cars with obvious suspicion and, I think, some disdain.
Now my drive home takes about an hour, and usually all I want to do is get off the highway and into my apartment so I can take off my shoes and relax and unwind. And usually, waiting to get on to the six-lane divided highway that is my last leg home is the last thing I want. But Tuesday, while I watched these geese, I didn't care how long I had to wait.

What is it about baby animals that people find so cute? Generally speaking, I'm not one of those people who look at a puppy in the store or baby lions on the TV and say, "Ooooh, look how cute!" And yet, there I was, looking at baby geese and thinking to myself, "Look at the baby geese!" Maybe it's just that you see baby animals in zoos or on TV or in pet shops, but never just out in the wild (as wild as the side of a highway in suburban Northern Virginia can be, at least), living their lives, undeterred by (or perhaps, in spite of) all the cars racing by at 70 mph. Staking out their little spot of nature on the side of the highway, saying, "Yeah, we live here too."

I don't know exactly why they affected me so much; maybe it was just the fact that these little baby geese had found a spot to call home and do their thing in this crazy and way too fast-paced world of ours. And maybe, if they could do it, so could I.
And then traffic started moving, and I was back into the slash and burn of evening rush hour, but my usual slow, dreary drive home seemed a lot nicer, and I was no longer tired or frustrated, rushing to get home. "Bye, geese," I said, as I pulled into traffic. And I was sad to be leaving. I really could have stayed there, watching them peck in the grass, for hours maybe. Just a little bit of simplicity in a complicated life.

Bye, geese. I hope I see you again.

:: posted by Rob 4:29 AM [+] ::

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