A Miss is as Good as a Moose

Yesterday I kidnapped Jamie and made him accompany me and the boys to Storyland, a great amusement park over two hours north of us. We went to Storyland last year, but it was a little different because Nathan was so small.

This year Nathan was old enough to understand the concept of a ride. He and Nicholas had a blast in all the play areas and on a few of the rides I forced Jamie to ride with them while I waited at the exit patting my pregnant belly. Of course, Nate is still very small, and moving from one thing to the next was like pulling teeth. He spent 20 minutes on the misting tent, missing the fact that it is supposed to only cool you down, and that there was actually a whole water play area right around to corner which was much, much more fun.

But the most exciting event took place on the way home.

Ever since my Freshman year at college in Maine I have seen those signs that said "Moose Crossing." I never really thought anything of it. How often do you see a deer crossing the road, let alone a Moose? And I have always been fully aware that a collision with a Moose can be fatal, and I'm not thinking of the Moose, here. Moose are huge. They weigh hundreds and hundreds of pounds. And all the way up to Storyland we saw signs warning us to "Break For Moose!" But honestly, for me, the signs had taken on the same significance as a kind of joke. Kids steal the signs because they are funny to have.

Which is why my heart stopped beating completely when an actual Moose trotted out onto the highway in front of our car on the way home.

OK, I'm exaggerating. First of all, the highway was one of those rural "highways" that have occasional stoplights and have only one lane in either direction, but cars go up to 60 miles an hour on them. And the Moose didn't actually trot out in front of OUR car, it was the car in front if us. But for a moment I thought THEY would hit the moose, and that we would, in turn, hit THAT car.

The Moose crossed the road, and the car in front of me just sat there. Like us, they were probably thinking "Oh My God! We Almost Hit That Moose!" And then, of course, we went on and life went back to normal... well, as normal as life gets when you've been scared half to death and peed your pants. Jamie and I laughed because we'd been talking about Moose on the way up, and this moose was bigger than Jamie had expected one to be, but darker than I had expected one to be.

And of course, we did not get a photo, so no one will believe us.