With the Bank closed last Thursday, I hoped for a catch-up day. With all the recent rain, weekend events, and hopes to take a week off, I need to get into gear! After taking my father-in-law’s truck in for some work, I returned home with immediate plans to begin mowing and weed-eating the three-acre property we call home.

As I joined my wife on the screened-in porch for one last cup of coffee,  my wife pointed to the grass. “See that,” she said. I squinted and saw a couple of brown leaves. Then the leaves moved!  I realized (as my wife had already) that it was a tiny newborn fawn lying in the grass in the middle of my yard. After 90 minutes or so, I decided I could at least weed-eat around the house and fence line. Perhaps the noise would stir the fawn to move into my neighbor’s field.

Not even a flinch!

Then a hard rain and storm came thru. Outside of standing up to shake off the water, there was no movement by the baby deer. Later, as the baking sun came out, the fawn moved 15 feet into the grass under a maple tree. Then, no further movement for the remainder of the day.

I needed (wanted) to mow. So, I began mowing the side of the house, the front of the house, and the field. Finally, I began mowing closer and closer to the fawn. Still no movement. Being afraid that if I got too close, the fawn would run and something bad would happen, I put the mower away with a quarter of my yard left to mow.

Later my wife and I sat for two hours on the screened-in porch waiting for the fawn’s mom to come. Our neighbors, including an expectant mother, became involved in the “fawn watch”. At last, two does (one with a baby in tow) came out of the woods. After what seemed like forever, the solo doe made its way to the fawn. The fawn sprang up and ran to her and began nursing (which went on for 20 minutes). Now that we knew the little deer was safe, we could go to bed.

As I reflected on the day, I thought about the patience and trust the fawn had. To literally lie in the same spot for 12 hours waiting for its mom to return. How could I develop the same patience? The same trust?  Then I realized that it took two to build trust. I had just been looking at it from the fawn’s perspective. The mom had left the fawn in what she deemed a safe spot and expected the fawn to be there when she got back (don’t we all wish our kids were that behaved). And it was still where she had left it.

In banking, business, or family, developing trust and patience takes two (or more) people. For our customers, they need your trust, and you need theirs. Trust is not an easy thing. But it is one of the best things we do as a community bank for our customers and ourselves.