One particular event that will forever be in my memory took place on a warm summer night in the mountains of Vermont. My family and I have a tradition of spending a week each summer in a quaint, tiny "everybody knows everybody" town. Our house sits at the top of a hill surrounded by farmland that extends for acres and mountains that seem to reach the sky. It has been our family's second home for generations, and summer would never be the same without it. One evening around dusk I chose to take a walk down the rocky dirt road to the pasture where a handful of cows frequently graze.This is where my memory begins.

I approached the field simply to watch the scenery and take a bit of time for myself, away from the house bustling with activities and chatter. My eyes wandered over the stunning, green covered mountains, the trees bordering the field, and the calf among the herd of full grown cows. At that moment I realized that a bit of the fence that kept the herd of cows from wandering off was no longer in place. I was curious as to whether or not the cows realized this narrow passage of freedom they were so close to. After pondering the thought for a second or two, my eyes darted back up to realize that the calf had broken away from the group and was running as fast as its legs could take it, straight towards me.

In that moment it became a crucial detail that there was no longer any fence of separation as I stood completely still, feet frozen to the ground. Completely paralyzed in shock at the scene, I stood waiting for the seemingly inevitable impact of the tiny cow running into me, but it never happened. A few feet in front of me the calf had come to a full stop, simply staring up at me with its big brown eyes. We both just stood there looking at each other, apparently both curious about the seemingly different creature standing in front of us. After a few brief moments of peering curiously at each other, the calf turned around and slowly cantered back to its mother.

The tiny cow and I were not all that different from each other in that moment. On that warm summer night the small cow and I had both been struck with the urge to escape the normality of life with our families. This sudden impulsive behavior allowed both of us to discover something new and exciting as we left the usual confines of our lives at home.