I Think my Squirrel is dead!

I think it was my squirrel. And not my squirrel in the pet kind of way.

But my squirrel in the sharing of time and space kinda way.

Tuesday, when I arrived home after some errands, I sadly noticed a squirrel had been run over in front of my house.

Oh No, not my squirrel I hoped.

You see, each afternoon I have this little ritual. Around 2:30 I take my chair, the mail, some magazines or a book and sit about halfway down my drive, under some big trees and wait for my son's bus to arrive. I get about 30 minutes of nice relaxing indulgent me time before the afternoon rush hour. School has been in session for about 3 weeks now and I haven't missed a day of this ritual. I started noticing this squirrel in the tree above me one day when I was sitting catching up with Oprah and little bits of things starting falling all around me. Upon investigating, I discovered this squirrel was sitting up there gathering and chewing the shells off of hickory nuts. So each day, I sit and read and he(or she) busily gathered nuts for the impending winter. And by winter I do not mean cold and snowy weather. Around here winter is a state of mind or page on the calender not necessarily a weather related event. But I digress. I began to look forward to our little time together each day and I found myself reading less and watching the squirrel, which lead to the birds which lead to the ants, all busily at work. Never stopping to ponder life around them or just stop and do nothing.

Then I saw the squirrel mishap.

So far Tuesday and Wed. I have not seen "my" squirrel. Maybe he is off harvesting from other trees.Maybe after 3 weeks he has rid our trees of its bounty and moved on. I think this is the same squirrel that visited our bird feeder on occasion that I shooed away. Today I am going to refill the feeders to try and lure him back. This time there will be no shooing. If not, I will miss him.

Damn car!

What ,you were going too fast to brake or swerve for a little squirrel.

Or maybe he was making a made dash for the woods across the street, having heard rumor of a tree full of harvest.

The same day I noted this tragedy I read an article entitled"Life's too Short to........"

The author was telling of her AH HA moment when she realized that life was too short to do things you don't want to or skip the things that make life worth savoring. Her only lament was that she wished she had learned this years before. If got me to thinking about my own list:

Life's too Short To

Not make friends with a squirrel

Not to say No to things you really do not want to do

To say No to something you really want to do but don't think you should

Not have a least a few bites of dessert

Not lay down for a few minutes with your child, even if it is a school night

Tell your child No, when Yes won't really matter in the long run

Not live like it speeds by but also to make each day last forever

Not speak out even if you are the only one that will agree with yourself

Speak out when you know it will open a can of worms you don't really want to deal with

Worry about any of these things.

Make your own list.

A week from today I will be 47.

47 47 47 47

Who me?

I keep having these thoughts that begin with "When I grow Up I will ______(fill in the blank).

When will I actually be grown up, not on the outside, but the inside?

I have been married for 25 years and have 2 children.

Does that make me grown up?

I am a chef, travel coordinator, laundress, nurse, Housekeeper, vet, personal shopper, teacher, cheerleader, therapist, mother, lover, sister, daughter, friend, driver, accountant and secretary.

Do all of these jobs make me a grown up?

I have decided that my mantra will be

"Life's too Short to grow up"

And that's the real secret.

Spend time watching the ants, never completing your to do list, and doing what you want.

Those child like qualities that we seem to think we need to leave behind or out grow.

Why?

It seems when I get one thing marked off my list, several more get added on.

I am not talking about laundry or grocery shopping or homework or anything attached to my above jobs list.

I mean this to do List:

Write a novel and not a Pulitzer Oprah Book Club book. But a racy, trashy, scary read at the beach Nora Roberts, Jonathan Kellerman, Patricia Cornwell, John Grisham kind.

Have a hammock and actually use it.

Sleep out on our trampoline with the kids in the backyard and stare at the stars.

Live to see the book "Geek Love" made into a movie.

Learn to scuba dive.

Go to Paris and Rome and Greece and Pompeii and Scotland.

Learn to Golf

Live on the beach

Go back to college and get a degree in Special Education

Learn to make the perfect cut out and decorated Christmas cookies.

Master the perfect Fried Chicken

Have Grandchildren

See my son graduate from high school.

Live closer to my bestest friend from New Jersey.

Live to 100 and see that the world still has water, wild life and hope and happiness.

Good thing I still have a lot of growing up to do.

I've got a lot of things I am looking forward to marking off my list.

And a lot of things to add to it.

Make your own list.

Life's a lot more fun with stuff to look forward to doing.

And that's the secret,

Life's too short not to.......