Here in our new neighborhood, our mailboxes are
neither on our house nor on the street in front of the house. Our mailbox is a
large, gray-metal rectangular box that happens to be across the street and
around the corner. It's really not very attractive. I don't walk over to it to
get the mail every day. I think it's like "out of sight, out of
mind." Besides, there are usually not a lot of exciting things in the
mail...until this particular day.
It was Thursday. I realized I hadn't picked up the
mail since Monday or Tuesday so I thought I really should go retrieve it.
Sometimes I send the girls to go get it, but today I made the journey. I took
my mailbox key, unlocked the box (of course it's the box on the top!), and
grabbed all of the mail. It was folded over into two particular stacks
signaling to me that there was two days of mail. I clutched the mail to my
chest (it was windy), and without dropping any of it I walked home.
When I got back inside, I dropped the mail on the
island and hung up the mailbox keys. I opened one of the folded stacks and
began sifting through the piles. Most of it was junk mail. Then I opened the
second stack and my heart stopped.... There was a green lizard!!!!!!! Yes, in
the mail. Yes, I carried it all the way back from the mailbox and held it close
to my chest...and now my heart was racing! Yes, I shrieked! Immediately, I
began imagining this thing running around the house and I was going to have to
somehow catch it. Better yet, I quickly decided was going to just leave it and
wait for Matt to come home. (Looking back now I realize this was probably not
the best solution, but I wasn't thinking clearly at the time!) I think I began
to hyperventilate.
I slowly tiptoed back over to the island, not
wanting to, and reached for the pile of mail. Luckily, the patio door is close
to the end of the island. I needed to be quick. I opened the door, grabbed the
pile of mail, flung it out on to the patio, and slammed the door. Then I
breathed a HUGE sigh of relief.
My mail is now outside but so is the lizard. Upon
closer inspection at a safe distance (and through the window because I was NOT
going out there), the lizard was dead. My heart and my breathing began to slow.
Looking at the picture, it may not look very big, but I can assure you it
seemed quite large in the pile of mail....
Shortly after this traumatic event, Alexa came home
from school. "Mom, why is the mail outside?" So, I began to explain
the story to her. As I am telling this tale, I began to feel guilty. What if I
killed this lizard while carrying it home?!? Oh no. This was horrible. Alexa,
in her infinite eight-year-old wisdom said to me so calmly, "You didn't
kill it mom. Because if you did, it would have exploded and it would have been all
over the mail and probably your shirt." ACK! This was when I did a
"full body shiver!" Oh. My. Gosh. THAT would have been so much
worse...
By the way...I haven't been back to the mailbox
since! I talked to few neighbors and no one else has had this experience...just
me. Lucky me!
