During one of last year's Forest Walks, I spied a doe and fawn at the top of the ridge behind the Effie Yeaw Nature Center in Sacramento. I haven't seen many of this year's fawns and when I have, they were too far away for a good picture.

As I was nearing the end of my visit, I spied the doe and fawn again — this time much closer, at the fence that marks the edge of the park land about six feet from the trail. The doe was 20 or so feet from me, inside the fence; the fawn on the other side, clearly in a little distress.

Mama did not appear concerned about being separated so from her baby, just wary of me. The deer in this park are quite used to humans, mostly keeping safe distances and giving the appearance of little more than mild concern. When does are caring for the new born, however, they become much more cautious; carefully and deliberately putting more distance between themselves and humans.

I kept my distance to help Mama feel safe while I watched her sending encouragement to her little one to catch up. I suspect she had jumped over the fence because the fawn kept approaching the fence and making jumping movements, although she clearly knew she was too small to get over the fence.

As she paced along the fence working out how to get to Mama, the doe sent her typical mom messages. "Stop fooling around and get over here! Come on, you can do it!"

After a few minutes Mama decided tough love was her most effective teaching tool and headed down the hill into the park. This gave the fawn a moment of panic that quickly moved into determination with the planting of an idea.

She began moving closer to me, where the fence was squashed down low enough to allow a youngster like her to jump over. I didn't want to cause the little one more fear or prevent her from learning the day's lesson so I backed away. I could feel her relief as she approached the dip in the fence and picked up speed, getting ready for her triumphant leap.

Success! She made it! I could feel her pride in herself, and joy at being clear of the fence. And even though she couldn't see Mama, she knew exactly where to go. I'm certain Mama was sending her energetic bubbles of love and encouragement like bread crumbs to find her way back to the safety of motherly protection.

Just as humans do, babies in the forest have to learn skills to survive and care for each other. The forest is the classroom, school is in session every day, and pop quizzes can result in life or death. Just like humans.

We too are in class every day of our lives and some of our lessons and obstacles can feel that important. If you are reading this, you have overcome obstacles large and small, and you have more to learn about yourself and the world. I know this is true because you're still walking the Earth.

What obstacles did you overcome today? I'll wager you overcame an obstacle that didn't even feel like one because you applied a lesson you aced. What new lesson did working through that obstacle teach you?

It's one of the constant cycles of life and if we approach it calmly as Mama Deer and with the determination of the fawn, we'll ace the quiz with flying colors!

~ Norma Springsteen