Midnight Knocks and a Hatchling in the Dirt

I’m scrambling for some semblance of literary excellence to bestow upon you, dear reader. I’m currently sitting in a motel room near Topsail Island, NC. My wife and I made the trek to the coast to spend time with some of her childhood friends. We arrived late Wednesday afternoon and plan to spend a few days soaking up solar rays. I imagine when this hits your inbox or social media feed, I’ll be shredding the gnar—aka body surfing in the Atlantic.

I’ve needed this time away from the madness my life has become these past few months. I’m not even going to complain about the crazy lady in the room next to us who sits in front of her room, smokes cigarette after cigarette, and pounds on our door past midnight for reasons unbeknownst to us. She’s cray, and that’s okay. Maybe being creepy is what relaxes her, and everyone needs to do whatever it takes to knock the edge off these days. So, here’s hoping I don’t startle awake and land in a karate stance more than once this trip—but who knows.

The past few weeks have been a blur. I’ve been prepping for a large grading project that will start soon, God willing. Once this project is complete, my backyard will transition from dead space to a veritable oasis for solitude and wildlife viewing. I’m stoked. Did I mention we found a surprise baby tortoise that hatched in my indoor tortoise pen? Against all odds, this little tortoise hatched and crawled out of the dirt earlier this week, to my utter shock and joy.

The irony here is that the only reason my red-footed tortoises aren’t outside this time of year is that we had to dismantle their old outdoor pen as part of the backyard renewal project. Their new outdoor pen is coming in short order, but it’s two or three projects away. Since we didn’t put the tortoises outside earlier this spring, the heat lights kept the indoor pen at the optimal temperature under the soil. The eggs laid last November had a chance to hatch, and so far, one did! Here’s hoping more crawl out of their shells and into our lives.

I hope the tortoise hatching is a sign of things to come—hard work bestowing blessings we weren’t counting on. That’s the way I want to look at things. I’ve been working hard for years on various projects, and I hope it’ll start making sense sooner rather than later. I’ve learned that I have friends and family I can count on when things get down to crunch time.

Someone’s knocking on the door… I’m typing these last lines from under my motel room bed. Sometimes they say opportunity knocks; other times it’s just your crazy neighbor in a weird roadside motel. Either way, I’m going to hold off on answering just yet. I’m on vacation, and this break is well earned…

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Stan Lake is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker currently living in Bethania, North Carolina with his wife Jess and their house full of animals. He split his time growing up between chasing wildlife and screaming on stages in hardcore bands you’ve never heard of. He has been published by Dead Reckoning Collective, The Havok Journal, Reptiles Magazine, Lethal Minds Journal, and many others. He filmed and directed a documentary called “Hammer Down” about his 2005 deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in with Alpha Battery 5-113^th of the NC Army National Guard. You can find his books, collected works, and social media accounts at www.stanlakecreates.com

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.