I don’t always have Karma on the brain, but it is always in motion.
And it’s fun when we can experience those positive life events that sure seem to be Karma-connected.
A recent example of this was the “tent and the alligator” sequence of events.
My husband and I were tent camping at a small lake in Wyoming after 4 days of backpacking in the Wind River Range. We had a small nook right on the water and in fact, our tent was staked into the sand. We had also put up the fly of our backpacking tent to provide shade since there was none to be had.
Lakeside camping site, a new experience for us.
The next morning, we left the campsite to go for a short day hike at a state forest nearby. We were gone for about 5 hours, so not too terribly long. Upon driving the long dirt road back to our lakeside campsite, we noticed the wind had picked up. Little did we know, the winds out there can be brutal.
As we drove up to our campsite, the tent fly was nowhere to be seen. Of course, the first reaction was “OH NO!!” and then the second thought was “The WIND took it!!” We rushed over to the area to find the fly flattened on the sand with big stones on top of it… and a note from a local police officer who had rescued the flying fly.
Officer Johnston saving the day
What a relief! And how super cool that Sheriff Johnston happened to drive by when our tent fly was about to take off for who-knows-whereville. We were so grateful.
So, the wind was still a howlin’ while we were checking the other tent and the camp area to make sure nothing else was going to take off in the respectable Wyoming winds.
Suddenly, I heard Pat yell “OH NO” again! I looked out onto the lake to see an inflatable alligator blowing away from the shoreside of our neighboring campers. I caught a glimpse of an adult male kinda sorta swimming after it and then quickly giving up, retracting back to shore.
I wish I had a photo or video of this and the next scene, but alas, there was no time for a photo. I yelled to Pat, “I’ll go get it.” (He’s not exactly the swimmer type.)
I knew the water temp would be friggin’ cold. The day before I had put my toes in the water, walked in to about mid-calf, and then said, “That’s good enough”, wimping out. I had no plans to swim leisurely, but when there’s a kiddo’s inflatable alligator being blown to Kansas, duty calls and you don’t think twice about it.
Did I mention the water was friggin’ cold? Based on prior experiences of lake swimming, I’d estimate the water temp was in the mid-50s.
No photos to show here of The Gator Rescue as it all happened so fast. I did the crawl out to the gator (wearing my clothes, not a swimsuit, mind you) in the middle of our bay area, while Pat yelled navigational pointers to me like “go more to the right!!” I was fighting those brutal winds and a sudden thought of hypothermia risk (cue the dramatic music and nail biting - ha ha). But I was determined and then overjoyed to reach Gator and kick it back to shore.
This is the same gator
Chilly water for swimming, but when the gator needs rescued, you answer the call.
And that was the Karma flow: Our tent fly was saved by the Sheriff … and not long afterwards, we got to save the Gator for the kid.
We met the Dad and Kiddo along the road (me dripping wet but still happy as could be). We told the story of what had happened and exchanged some laughs and smiles. It was pure and good.
The kiddo offered us a chocolate bar for the rescue. I didn’t want to accept it, but he said, “I don’t care about the chocolate - I’m glad to have my alligator back.” Dad insisted we take the small token of appreciation… and so we did.
And a story that involves strangers helping each other and ends with a Chocolove bar is a favorite story of mine.
The best chocolate bar ever and even better when Karma is involved.
Thanks for reading,
Dina