Frolicking Squirrels
This column first appeared in the February 2016 issue of “Forsyth Family”magazine.
The other day, I was sitting at the stoplight where Stratford Road meets Reynolda Road. At that light, I routinely grumble to myself because it doesn’t turn green for ages even when there is zero traffic going up or down Reynolda.
Sometimes I go so far as to imagine finding out who is in charge of streetlights and dashing off a note suggesting that they look into adjusting it. In the end, that seems like way too much trouble. So I content myself with muttering. I was busy doing that when, on the other side of Reynolda, I saw three squirrels running after each other along a branch.
There is something about the way that a squirrel runs along a branch that is inherently entertaining. And here were three of them running one after the other.
It made me smile.
Although frolicking squirrels is a simple thing, for me, it was a big thing in the moment. Instead of sitting there being mildly cranky, I was sitting there absolutely happy.
It felt like a real gift.
A week or two before that, I had gotten a super duper surprise gift.
I was at an elementary school where the students were playing a mathematics version of musical chairs. Children wearing numbers and such mathematical signs as “equals” and “plus” would dance around the gym until the music stopped. Then they would scramble to find other students to make an equation, such as 6+3=9.
As one round began, “How Bizarre” came from the speakers. It’s a song that I like a lot but I couldn’t begin say when I had last heard it or, for that matter, even thought of it. With kids having fun making noise and the song being cut off shortly after it started, the listening circumstances were less than ideal. I resolved to listen to the whole song once I got home.
Later, when I got in the car and turned on the radio, the first song I heard was “How Bizarre.” And it had just started.
The song being delivered to me like that made me feel lighter than I had felt in a long time. What a gift!
And it didn’t stop there. Two more songs that I really like – “Roxanne” by The Police and Peter Schilling’s “Major Tom” – came one after the other so, for 10 minutes or so, I’m driving down the road with joy in my heart.
That’s a long time to have joy in your heart. None of this is to suggest that, unless I’m watching playful squirrels or being thankful when life delivers unexpected gifts, I have no joy in my life. Every day I think about how fortunate I am to have Garnet and Sparkle Girl and Doobins and so many other blessings in my life.
What can happen minute to minute, though, is I can get distracted from my blessings because I’m fretting about some aspect of the day-to-day mechanics of life. Does the driver of that sports car really need to be following so closely that I cannot see the car’s headlights in my rearview mirror?
I learned long ago that you can certainly make a point of doing things that you expect to bring delight into your life. A friend mentioned two of her favorites – eating strawberries and going to pick cherries.
But there’s something extra special about those unexpected gifts, such as looking up into the night sky when I’m walking the dog for the last time and seeing a crescent moon next to a shining planet. Such experiences make everything feel fresh and remind me just how wonderful the world can be.
