We went roller blading this evening and thoroughly enjoyed it! The weather was perfect!! As we were skating back on the track at dusk, I decided to skate beside AM and talk to her instead of having her skate halfway between L and me. As we were skating along, I noticed a stick on the path and decided to try kicking it with my skate. This was very exciting for me because I figured I would fall flat on my backside, but I didn’t. I kept skating, quite proud of myself (even though I totally missed the stick).

As I turned back from seeing if I had hit the stick, AM screamed. I was really wondering why my kicking a stick was such a big deal!! Then I looked down and was suddenly glad that I had skated with AM!! I was looking into the face of a snake (do snakes have faces?). It has its head raised and its teeth bared, ready for attack if necessary. I guess it was not very happy about me kicking a stick that was ONLY ABOUT A FOOT AWAY from it!! I had not seen it because I was focused on the stick, so I had already skated past the snake (very close to it, I might add – I’m glad I didn’t fall on it!). I was also quite impressed at how fast AM stopped without falling down (she was close enough that if she had fallen, she might have been bitten).

The snake was now between AM and me, so I sent AM back toward L. N, who was skating with us today, took a stick and kind of guided it off the path. He did not know what kind it was (the snake, not the stick!!). Afterwards, AM was very careful and kept her eyes open (she was even watchful in the yard after we got home).

We have been talking to AM about screaming about small stuff! Needless to say, I did not lecture her on screaming this particular day. I actually told her that she had good reason for it. It might have been better if she actually yelled “snake!!” so we would know what was wrong, but this was her first time to see a snake other than in a cage at the zoo. I’m not sure I would have done more than scream and I’ve seen snakes before!! (of course we’re both girls, and girls tend to scream a lot 🙂

It is interesting to note that AM was concerned that the snake would slither over to her and bite her. I said, “Oh, don’t worry; snakes can’t move that fast.” When the snake got off the paved path and into the grass, I saw how wrong I was! I couldn’t believe how fast it went!! It was practically hopping! I guess AM and I both got our snake lesson for the day! Hopefully we won’t have another for quite a while!

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