The Sunglasses and the Squirrel

By Tammy Moshier

My daughter is the animal lover in our house. She has been doing fund raisers for the shelter since she was in first grade, has built up quite a dog-sitting empire, and gets 100% of the credit for picking out the best dog ever.

Stop the Car!

Laura loves all animals, even squirrels.  She makes me stop the car anytime a squirrel is in the street.  I’m amazed we haven’t gotten rear ended.  She insists we come to a complete and total stop so let the little guys get across safely.

Recently, a squirrel was scampering across the street, and he dropped his nut.  It rolled one way as he ran the other.  I knew what was coming.  My daughter wanted me to pull the car over, get the nut, take it over to the side of the street and put it under the bush so he could retrieve his prize.  I had to draw the line.  Watching that little squirrel reminded me of a story…..

I Have to Have Those Glasses

I am not a materialistic person.  It’s not my nature.  Things don’t usually appeal to me so it was odd for me to get attached to expensive sunglasses.  It started when I was killing time during my son’s eye appointment.  I tried the gorgeous glasses on and fell in love.  When we went back for a follow up, I put them on again.  Still loved those glasses.  My daughter had an appointment next.  I was hoping my sunglasses would be gone.  They weren’t.  I knew I had to have those glasses.  It might have been the first time I had ever coveted a thing.

For such an extravagant purchase I might as well go all out and make them prescription sunglasses.  Did I want to add polarization?  You bet I did.  I placed a rush on the order so I would have them in time for our beach trip.  Oh happy day when I my sunglasses came in!  I could not stop looking in the mirror.

First day on the beach.  First time in the ocean with my daughter.  She was just an itty bitty thing, maybe two or three.  My practical husband warned me about wearing my new shades in the water.  “What good are prescription sunglasses if you can’t wear them in the water?’ I thought.  Of course, I did not heed his advice.  You know what happened next.    As I was sporting my beloved designer, prescription, polarized sunglasses, a huge wave came out of nowhere.  I grabbed my baby girl with both hands and held on tightly.  I did not hold on to my sunglasses.  I did not hold on to them at all.

Squirrels and sunglasses.  What is the connecting thread?  What could the story of the sunglasses and the squirrel have in common?  That little squirrel loved his big pecan just like I loved my polarized shades.  But the squirrel and I both knew something very important –  things are just things.  Sometimes, as much as you love a thing, you need to let it go.  In the case of the squirrel and the sunglasses, we both had to let go, and we had to let go fast.

When the squirrel had to choose between his life and the nut, he made the only decision.  When that big wave was about to crash down on my baby and me, those sunglasses never even crossed my mind.

I’ve Seen Fire and I’ve Seen Flood

I’ve dealt with the loss of things a good bit in my life.  Fire at 18.  Flood at 49.  “It’s only stuff” became a necessary mantra.  When people talk about what you would grab if your house was on fire, I always say, “Clearly, your house has never been on fire.”  As one who knows, that thought doesn’t cross your mind.  If your house is on fire, like mine was when I was 18, you are laser focused on one thing:  getting yourself and your family out.  That’s it.

So like the little squirrel I have learned a thing or two about stuff.

Any thing that stands between me and my family has to go.  Any item that causes me to grieve rather than to find gratitude deserves to be in a dumpster.    Just like the little squirrel that dropped that nut the minute he realized it was slowing him down, we have to let go of things that are weighing us down.  Stuff has to know its place, and stuff can never be our priority.

I did replace my prescription sunglasses.  They are nice, but not designer.  They were reasonably priced.  I’ve had them for years and years.  They are fine.  Just what a pair of sunglasses should be.  My baby girl is taller than I am now so there is no need to hold her if we are in the ocean and a big wave comes.

But on October 4, 2015, a different sort of wave came and knocked both of us to the ground.  Thank goodness I had a little bit of wisdom.  Every day I would say, “I’m ok, and you’re ok, and Bruzer’s ok.  Nothing else really matters.”  We bought a new sofa.  We bought new chairs.  We replaced the stuff that needed replacing.

I bought another pair of sunglasses.  That little squirrel will find another nut.  It’s just stuff, and stuff is not what matters.

The squirrel and the sunglasses.  I have learned good lessons from them both!

So Laura will continue fighting for and loving all the animals of the world.  Her kind heart will make sure whoever is driving the car will stop anytime a critter is in the road.  And I hope, I really hope, that every time she sees a little squirrel carrying a nut she will know it’s ok if he has to let it go.