Facing Fears (sorta)

On a recent trip we visited this beautiful old mill in Arkansas.

The drive to the mill is down the curviest road I have ever had the misfortune of traveling on. I tend to get carsick on winding roads so I took Dramamine, but that was no match for this road. As I fought back the waves of sickness threatening to embarrass me in front of our friends, I could almost hear it saying, "Ha-ha you silly human! I laugh in the face of your puny Dramamine!" Somehow by the grace of God (and my own stubbornness) I managed to make it all the way there without actually getting sick and I must say it was worth the trouble.

Dave and I walked around and shopped inside the mill. Then we bought a tiny loaf of bread about the size of his hand and went out to feed the geese and ducks we'd noticed on the way in. This brought back vacation memories from my childhood. I remember Chad, Shanna and I feeding, and then running terrified away from hungry, hissing geese while mom took pictures and dad snickered in the background. Good times, good times.

I felt relatively safe this time because the low stone wall we sat on had only one young goose and two pretty little ducks beside it. The ducks were sweet and the goose was a tad obnoxious. I thought of him as a teen goose. He ate and ate and ate and ate, stealing bread from the timid ducks and then coming back for more. He finally decided he was full and it was none too soon since we were down to only a couple of tiny slices bread.

Then he did the oddest thing. He walked over to a fence, threw his wings up in the air and started honking in this very loud and irritating manner. At first Dave and I couldn't figure out what he was doing, but then we saw the many, MANY grown-up geese come running our way and we figured it out. He had eaten his fill and was now letting the others know there was food to be had.

Well I looked at those geese with their wings up in the air running our way, then looked down at the two tiny pieces of bread we had left and all those childhood memories came rushing back. So I did what any sensible person would do.

I ran.

(You can stop laughing now Dad).

Dave of course sat there calmly (obviously never having been on vacation with my parents as a child) and told me to stop being silly and to sit back down. I reluctantly did so as the first of the geese arrived. After about six of them were fed, we ran out of bread. That's when they started hissing and flapping their wings. That's all it took to have me jumping up to run again, but Dave just grabbed my arm and told me to sit down.

You won't believe what happened next, but I swear it's true. After I sat back down (and started whimpering) Dave simply looked at the geese and said (in his principal voice), "Hey now, that will be enough of that. You settle down." And do you people know what those geese did?? They obeyed!! I am serious. They put their wings down and stopped hissing and calmly stood there looking at him like a little army of feathered soldiers. It was really cool (and just a little bit creepy). Secretly, I now call him the goose whisperer.

I wonder if they have a spot on Oprah for that...