The Nutty Squirrel

Today on my trip to the doctor’s office….I stopped at the cross street at the end of our subdivision and I was awe stuck by this squirrel. It appeared to be a very small squirrel, but it was the size of a Disney chipmunk but with a bushy tail…so I was sure it was a squirrel. It was trying to drag a small branch with four huge walnuts on it across the street. (In case you are as ignorant as I was about nuts at one time….walnuts are huge till the hull rots off.)

It made me miss Tennessee for a moment….we had a huge walnut tree in our front yard there….it made 10 barrels of walnuts a year. That falling “ca-thump” and hitting our roof was a wonderful sign that fall was rapidly approaching. In a lot of ways watching this squirrel’s attempt to move this branch was amazing, scary and actually tiring all at the same time.

I was awe struck at how hard he was working at trying to move this branch. I am making an assumption that it was trying to take them home for food…I could be wrong though…but I like walnuts so why not this squirrel! I thought maybe he has a huge family…they need a lot to eat to make it through the winter….He was just so determined to make it across the road.

I wanted to help him! I wasn’t really sure how to though….so I just sat there and watched for a few minutes. He pushed and pulled, he would drag it a few feet, and then run out of the way for a car to pass, and then go back to trying to move this great treasure he had found. He was so intent on moving his prize that I saw him take chances I am sure that most squirrels would not. (SUV vs. squirrel not going to be good for the squirrel.)

Well he finally made it across the road and back onto the grass…I know he wasn’t to his home yet….but had made a huge amount of progress. I also had to make sure we didn’t miss our doctor’s appointment…so I had to go.

But that little squirrel sure mad an impression on me today!

I thought that I sure feel like that squirrel a lot!!! I push and I pull to get our kids up and out the door each morning….I try to make my children the best they can be…I am not always sure that it is really worth it. In this modern world….most of the time you are not judged by what is really important….(though I am still working on determining what that is too)…but I know most of the time it is not dedication to your family that gets you a cool car, or puts food on the table or pays for college. Being responsible is not a “desired trait” for a teenage “hogtie” list. But if you are a squirrel and want to make it to next year…you have to start putting away those nuts for later. You will spend most of your day “pushing” and “pulling” and hunting for food.

However as most parents know that it takes a lot of “good pushing and pulling” to raise children in today’s world with all the challenges facing them! There are days I feel like I am dragging a ton of "things" we need everywhere. Sometimes I am carrying 1-3 children at a time and I am always planning for the "future" . I stop a lot and look around.... but then rush off to complete whatever my task was, I am just as oblivious as that squirrel.

So today I decided I have a lot in common with that little squirrel! (Does that imply that I am nuts or is it my children who are?)