Houdini lives in my house. More precisely, it might be an entire tribe of Houdinis. This creature (these creatures) has shown more brain and brawn than I have given them credit for in the past. And they have helped me cultivate persistence, a trait I have focused on developing. This isn’t the application I intended it to be applied to. Such is life.

Houdini is a mouse. Aptly named, by me of course, for its remarkable ability to elude capture in most types of live mousetraps. I had a tried and true brand I’d used for years. Last time it didn’t work, Houdini escaped by pushing out the cap in the back, and then took the cap with it so it couldn’t be used again. I resorted to another type of trap I had on hand. I know it would not be possible to escape this contraption. Unfortunately, so have all the mice in the history of my house. It looks like Alcatraz, without the good views. No mouse has ever entered it. Four years old, I finally tossed it out last week.

I found a new type of trap at the hardware store. Cute as a mouse, so to speak. The mice entered and left the trap several times leaving it shut to look like it had a captive. Alas, the mouse gets the cheese, but I didn’t get the mouse.

Finally, I’m back to the original trap. I’ve been feeding my mouse (mice) good cheese; in chunks that get them to the place the trap usually securely captures them. I’ve been able to relocate six back to nature, with only a few obvious escapes. I know I may be eluding myself, that I may be recycling the same family and feeding them well along the way. But today I feel good about following my values of live and let live, and I’m learning about persistence from an unlikely source. With the approach to the Houdini’s seemingly under control, I’ll work on persistence in the intended arena….back to my writing. Like Houdini, I've consistently eluded putting words on paper. Now, it's time to capture them.