A few of the stories in this blog are about Sterling losing something. At least, not knowing where something is. I have explained to him that the easiest way to not lose anything is have a pattern. "I don't lose stuff because everything has a place. My keys and wallet are on the microwave. My phone and watch stay with me at all times." I've told him.
On top of that, I have explained to him that I can find most everything of mine because I remember where it is. Well...it happened to me.
There is an eagle that nests somewhere near my house. Occasionally, I catch a glimpse of him. I've really wanted to get a picture of him. In my mind, it was a beautiful picture. The eagle would be back dropped with a gorgeous blue sky and possibly a waterfall. A 40lb salmon clutched in it's talons. It would be gliding, so slowly, that I would have time to grab my camera, get the magnificent creature in focus, just as it crossed in front of a huge full moon and "click", I would have an outstanding shot that every person would want to mount on their walls.
So, when driving home last week and I saw him, I immediately stood on the gas pedal to get home as quick as I could to get my camera and zoom lens and get back and take the perfect picture of my eagle. On the way home, I called Sterling. I wanted him to grab my camera and lens and meet me in the car. As I was planning my perfect shot, I had decided that I would have Sterling drive the car. I mean, I would drive most of the way back. But when we got about a half mile away, I would pull over, let him drive and give him the instruction to drive soooo slow around the corner so I could get the perfect shot. I would instruct him to stop the car if I needed him to so I could get out. I would have him drive up a ways and just wait for me, as highway 101 is only a two lane highway. I'm sure that any cars that may be behind us would understand why I was holding them up. I mean, c'mon...it's my freakin' eagle. The perfect shot. The blue sky, the salmon in the talons, the waterfall and the full moon. The cars behind Sterling and I would have to wait...they would surely understand. They wouldn't honk and scare the shy eagle.
All of this was going through my mind as I was stopping quickly at the bank to pull out $40. I frantically ran up the the ATM, grabbed my cash and jumped back into the car.
Sterling wasn't around when I madly slammed on the brakes, sliding a bit on the gravel in front of my house. I ran in, grabbed my camera stuff, and like a bullet ran back to the car and took off. I raced to get the shot of my perfect eagle before he flew away.
When I got back to his perch, he was gone. I drove about a quarter mile down the road to a spot where I could turn around and put the car in park. I was in Garibaldi. I scanned the tree line to the east, put the car in drive and headed back north to Rockaway Beach. Just before my last possible chance to pull off the road, I saw him. I immediately pulled off onto a side street and there he was. Directly in front of me. He was on the highest branch of the tallest tree. With my zoom lens I could hardly get a decent shot of him. He was so high up there.
This guy is the reason I left my card in the ATM. This proud, magnificent creature is the reason I had no cash at my disposal for a week. As I have decided to keep my credit union account in Vancouver, I have no means of getting a significant amount of cash. I had to transfer $ into my mothers account and have her bring it to me. It's embarrassing. Sterling let me know that "you don't lose stuff dad. It's really unlike you."
When I went back to the bank to see if anybody had seen my debit card, the teller asked what bank issued my card. When I asked her if they had my card, she replied "yep...that's the bank of the card that was shredded in our ATM. If a card is left in our ATM and it is not from our bank...the ATM will shred it."
I went five days with $40 and a quarter tank of gas. I think I'm going to get a bank here in Rockaway.
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