I Almost Kung Foo-ed the Easter Bunny

Last night, in celebration of St. Patricks Day surviving a hellish day, my neighbor and friend, AJ, opened her front stoop for my behind to sit on. Last summer, my front stoop was the place to be, but I can get used to hers.

Please note that this is NOT AJ's front stoop. It's just the closest image I found on the first couple pages of Google Images. Hehe.

We sat around, drinking a couple drinks, I smoked a couple cigarettes, and did a lot of talking and venting. Eventually, the venting turned to laughing and joking and goofing around. And, I learned a lot about life last night. Seriously.

So, here's what I learned on AJ's front stoop:

1. There are different sounds of the city from different sides of the street. Outside of my house, I can usually hear the sounds of the trees in the wooded area behind us. I hear trains blaring their horns throughout the night. Outside of AJ's house, I heard a lot more traffic. And the tarp in her neighbor's driveway flapping in the wind. On a deeper level, it makes you think about what people see from different perspectives. And appreciate that more. From my angle, I may intrepret the situations around me in one way, but someone just a little more or less distanced has an different view.
2. It's okay to ask questions, weird questions, especially if they distract you. As we were sitting and talking, something in the bush kept bothering me. It looked weird and out of place. It reminded me of a Christmas bulb ornament, but from what I could recall, they don't do outside decorations. It seemed like maybe it was a large bouncy ball, but there's no one that I could imagine there that would be outside playing with a ball. When AJ reached a point of pause, I just asked her what it was. It was a baby toy of some sort, but it wasn't theirs.
3. I love spring. Seriously, the weather last night, where we could sit outside without coats or getting frostbite was amazing. It was a gentle reminder that whenever it gets sucky in our lives, God will bring soemthing better. I do equate my hard times with winter. It's blah, I don't want to go outside. I grow cold and icy. You get the point.
4. Our crazy neighbor is really crazy. The last few days, he has been boarding up his house. We spent far too much time guessing his reasoning. I doubt we will ever know. But if he has some inside information about a hurricane coming, I'll be amazed....especially since we live in Indiana. However, I thank God for giving him to our neighborhood. He keeps it interesting.
5. I need to practice my knife throwing abilities. And AJ needs softer trees. I was joking that if I ever got attacked, I wasn't sticking around to stab someone. I was gonna run. And throw the knife at them. So, I felt challenged to see if I could throw it and I tried to hit her tree. First off, let me state that this is a fairly young tree and is maybe 6 inches wide. Second, I swear it had the toughest bark in the world. Either way. I missed the tree entirely about 95% of the time and the other 5% of the time, my knife bounced off the tree. Obviously, I need to work on my throw if I intend to seriously protect myself. However, judging from AJs reaction, I could always cause the attacker to fall over laughing....
6. God blesses us in so many ways. I am just continually amazed by the support system that I have in place when I need them the most. You all rock. Seriously. I can be having the worst day in the world and comments like "Carla the Courageous" and nights full of fun like last night remind me of what truely matters.
7. Don't underestimate the Easter Bunny. Or maybe just rabbits in general. At one point, I was walking back to my house for a moment. It was going well. I walked down AJs driveway, crossed the street, headed up my driveway and SHABAM!!! This crazy killer bunny ran out in front of me and stopped, I swear that it threatened my life. I jumped back like four feet, probably cursed under my breath, took my defense pose and was ready to kung-foo that bunny. It backed up, so I pointed my finger at it and told it to watch out. I almost kung-fooed the bunny, but he was lucky. I went inside and then went back to AJs. As I headed home for good, that darn bunny made a move like he was going to jump out at me, but I believe he recognized and remembered the threat because he stopped in his tracks (or her tracks, because I would bet that there's a baby bunny nest by the driveway, which is why she was so protective, but that doesn't make the story as fun). That bunny is just lucky that I can't throw a knife to save my life...

Have a wonderful Friday ya'll!