The Morning I Saw a Moose

On a camping trip in Maine, I got up at five a.m. to pee and saw a moose standing in the lake about forty feet from our tent.

It was enormous. Bigger than a horse. It was standing in the water up to its knees, eating plants, with mist rising off the lake all around it in the pink light. Water dripped off its giant antlers.

I didn't move. I didn't breathe. I didn't wake anyone up, which my family has never forgiven me for. The moose looked at me for a long moment, completely calm, and then went back to eating.

It stayed for maybe ten minutes. Then it waded across the lake and disappeared into the trees. I stood there in my socks for another half hour, too happy to go back to bed. I've never felt so lucky to have a small bladder.