Almost everyone is excited by the sight of the new whitetail fawns frolicking in a meadow with mother doe nearby, and I’m no exception.

For a number of years, Karen and John-Paul Muelhaupt have been a resource for various entities that find abandoned and/or injured fawns. They spend several months each spring and summer as surrogate parents.

It’s a demanding avocation, involving three bottle-feedings per day, medical liaison as needed, followed by the gradual release back into the wild. When I discovered their “secret,” I eagerly asked for permission to photograph a feeding.

The highly anticipated day for my first contact finally arrived. Nothing in my prior abstract photographic experience prepared me for personally meeting one bambi, let alone a dozen. Karen led me along the narrow wooded path to the enclosure, clutching the many bottles of lamb's milk she had prepared for the hungry fawns.

Almost immediately, we were surrounded by tiny excited creatures, jumping and licking the bottles, our hands, faces and even my camera lens. Their little faces were about the size of my outstretched hand. I petted their lean, boney backs and sides. I held their heads in my hands, and nuzzled their precious faces against mine. Just awesome!

When I revisited the moment while processing the photos I had taken, the one of Karen and the fawns silhouetted in afternoon sunlight came closest to capturing the warm feeling of that day and its glowing memory.

The term “awesome” has new significance for me.