Family and an Owl at Midnight

I come from a big family.

You know, the kind that has a ton of Aunts and Uncles and Cousins...and siblings, too!  There are too many to count, but is is probably 150-200.  I know, mind blowing.  



Each year, the kids and I go to do a "Visiting Day", where we travel around and hit up as many of them as we can, and spend time getting to know them better.  I want my kids to know their family, close and extended.  It's important. Family will always be there, when others aren't.  That whole blood is thicker than water thing.

Every year, we bring a little token of love for our visits.  This year, we made  acorn ornaments.  I'll post how to make them soon.   They are super easy and tons of fun to make!!

We stopped at many homes, were filled with wonderful conversations, ate a delicious supper, had some sweet treats, swapped gifts and headed home after a very, very long and awesome day!  

Now, driving there takes me hours, and driving home the same.  I usually start out very early in the morning and leave very late, and the kids sleep on the way home.  We always go when they don't have school the next day, so they get to sleep in.

This particular night, I left around 11:30 p.m. to head home.  There was no moon, making it a dark night, and I like to drive in the quiet, so I didn't have the music on or a book on tape playing.  Kids were snoozing after about 10 minutes, and we were all toasty warm  and I was reminiscing about our day.  I was cruising the roads doing 60, and watching the roads for deer.  Good times.

All of a sudden, I see a HUGE white wing out of the corner of my left eye.  I mean HUGE, folks!  A millisecond later I heard a loud WHAM and felt it hit the back seat door!  What the Heck!!!??  The child in that seat by the door woke up with a sudden bolt and asked me what was THAT?  I really had no idea.  I got down the road, turned around, and saw one of these laying in the road:

A Barred Owl. 

 It was a creamy color with brown, had a heart shaped face and the hugest brown eyes.  Just beautiful.  

It turned it's head and looked at me with it's big eyes, and turned it's head again....and I felt just awful.  I wanted to take it to help, but really, where would I bring it?  It slowed down it's movements and I knew that it didn't have long, so I left it alone.  Talk about hard to do. 

How many people do you know that get ran into by an owl in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere? 

Go me.