Yesterday I went on an impromptu, one person photo shoot. The weather was perfect and my favorite football team wouldn’t lose until late into the night. I took my trusty new camera out and was headed for the reservoir. It’s a picturesque place, but the sky was drab and the foliage was all but gone. It looked like gray had won the day – not great for a landscape seeking shutterbug.

On the way out to the reservoir, I spotted a farm with some cattle in the field. I filed that scene in my head in case the trip to the reservoir didn’t pan out.

I saw two men doing some work in the barn and asked permission to take pictures of their small herd. They agreed.

In the interest of complete disclosure, I know very little about cattle. I have been thrown by a brahma bull (a dumb stunt from my radio days) and I was in a cow chip throwing competition. Eeww! Outside of that, I’m clueless.

As I began to set up my tripod, I began to feel like Dr. Dolittle. A good portion of the herd came over to the fence where I was getting ready to shoot. It seemed like curiosity on their part. I began talking to them just like I talk to our dog and they began to inch closer.

They all had name tags in their ears and I addressed them by name. I felt like the photographer at Walmart entertaining the kids with my banter to get them animated for the shots. Then something interesting happened. Perhaps a little back story would be helpful.

I had been thinking about my mother recently. She died 8 years ago this month and she’s been on my mind. I was telling a friend the other day how she would greet her grandchildren and little children in general. She would say, “Hiya darlin’.” Her name was Lillian. Her friends called her “Lil.”

After I took photos of my new friends who were kind enough to gather for a group shot, I was ready to pack up and head home. Then one of the gang broke away from the herd and came right over to me. She was but a foot away and she was just looking right at me. I began to call her by her name and she just stood there as though she understood the stuff I was saying.

I could feel a connection with this creature. I uncapped the lens cover on my camera and took several individual photos of her and then bid her fond adieu. When I was looking at the pictures on my computer later in the day, the significance of her name dawned on me.

It made me smile and then laugh aloud when I noticed the serendipity. My new friend’s name was “Lil Darling.”

“Hiya Mom.”

All the best,

John

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