Sounds in the Night

  Alright....about the "elk" night sounds.  I guess I'll tell you.  I am a country bumpkin....raised in the Idaho mountains.  Both of my parents are veteran hunters.  And as kids my sister, brother and I helped trail elk, pack them out and butcher them.....  I don't fear elk...I find them fascinating.  I guess living around elk was a part of life.  I like the elk smell.  Mix it with the sound of birds, sunshine on my face, being surrounded by pine trees, and I really am at home.  I love it.
  This weekend as we camped we were immediately met with that fragrance.  We've run into elk at our "favorite" camp spot before...nothing new (in fact we awoke one morning a few years ago with elk IN our camp).  Kind of thrilling. 
  Well, our third night this trip proved to be "the night".  My husband volunteered to take our son to the truck for his asthma meds.  Tim knows I have a small fear of the dark.  I lay awake in my sleeping bag thanking God for my husband. 
  A minute or so later, I heard it....quiet at first and then louder...cow elk talking.  I listened intently....there's something so homey about that sound.  I heard it again.....and then the sound of branches breaking.  Laying in a tent and hearing those sounds used to scare me...in fact I remember laying awake an entire night as elk grazed near our tent a few years ago.  But now.....not so much (or so I thought).
  I lay in the peace and quiet; listening.  Then it hit me.....I needed to use the restroom.  Argh!....(using the restroom at night while camping is not fun).   I reluctantly crawled out of my warm sleeping bag....and tried feeling around for the flashlight.  No avail...I then remembered Tim had it, so I was out of luck.  Without my flashlight I couldn't find my shoes.  We have a big tent and it houses our three children as well as Tim and I.  So finding anything in our tent at night, without a flashlight, is impossible. 
  Well, as the call of nature became more urgent I decided to go barefoot...yikes!  Barefoot AND without a flashlight.  I have never done this before and DO NOT recommend it....but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.  So I unzipped the tent, still listening to the elk talk and branches break in the darkness.  Branches breaking.....branches breaking...and more branches breaking... I was pretty sure elk had night vision, so I wasn't worried about getting stepped on.....BUT STILL....  Being outside at night.....barefoot....without a flashlight and listening to branches breaking  is  hair raising. 
  Well, I rejoined my sleeping bag in record time....thanking the Lord that I didn't die while attending the necessary.....what a horrifying death that would be?!!!!!    Okay....sometimes my thoughts run away with me.  But, just as my heart slowed, my sweet husband opened the tent door with our contentedly sleeping son.  "Did you know there are elk down by the truck?", he asks.  "Uh.......ya, I did sweetie!", I quietly replied.  
With all three kids snuggly tucked in and Tim by my side I listened to the night noises for awhile.  They again became comforting and I eventually fell asleep.  
I guess in reality I'm not as brave as I'd like to think.  Night noises don't bother me when I know their source.  But the vulnerability of bare feet and blindness do change things........a little.