So this afternoon I ran over a squirrel. I really didn't mean to. Stupid thing was doing its high five thing with another squirrel in road and they darted off. I thought they both cleared. BUMP. Sigh.. one didnt.
So my boys on the way home tonight were all, "Oh look! Someone hit a squirrel today!"
When I didn't respond they persisted. "Mom did you see that? That big bird was eating on it!" I mumbled a response about the circle of life hoping that it would be dropped and we could move on.
Pulling in the driveway my persistant middleschooler was all," Mom. Do YOU know who ran over that squirrel?" Okay, so since I've been big on not lying and our virtue of the month is Honesty I answered with a yes. Masked in with what they would want for dinner.
Not being fooled, he follows up with, "Seriously, you committed a crime of road kill?"
Thrilled with my obvious want of this particular subject to be dropped, he asked me what seemed to be a thousand questions.
"Why did you do it?"
me: It wasn't on purpose son.
"Did ya stop and get out and go look at it?"
me: gross no!
"Can Brian and I go look at it?"
me: why? I dont think thats a good idea..poor thing has laid there for a couple of hours.
"We could go scoop it up for you and then have a funeral for it."
me: " No. It's a squirrel"
The boys grew tired of bugging me so they ran off to play with a neighbor kid down the street.
I should have known. No, I know what you are thinking. Those boys picked that dead critter up and brought it home.
(I am a master mom in that I planted seeds of intense pain if they did. I explained to them it could be rabid and then they would have to get a series of shots.)
Since they would rather wear pink than get a shot, they didn't bring it home. However. They did come home telling me how they went and looked the situation over.
Let's move into the next scene shall we?
This is the part where our senior citizen neighbors across the street inform me that my boys are down the street poking a run over squirrel with a stick. ANOTHER BIG SIGH.
As I'm walking down the street in a huff, the boys come rushing toward me on their bikes. "Mom you killed a mamma squirrel!"
me: what? How would you know that?
Brian, with his eyes turned downwards says, " because Mom, we saw the babies..that big bird is eating them. Why did you kill the squirrel?"
me: Seriously! you guys think that I purposefully saw the squirrel in the road and got my kicks off of running it over?
I'm starting to be rather upset myself over the whole situation. Ugh!
"Mom, you need to tell God sorry."
me: Dear God, I'm sorry I killed a squirrel by accident, and I'm sorry that it was a mama squirrel. Amen"
So far it has been 1 hour and 3 minutes since one of them brought this incident back up to me. Seriously, I hope this doesn't stick into my subconscious so much that I dream about it.
2 comments:
And here I thought Sasha was the only one good for going after those North American Monkeys! And bless ol' Mr. N for ratting out the Pirate's! LOL
Oh dear, it's not easy to be an example for the future, is it?
Two things: One is that apparently all Squirrels are named Sparky. I learned this from a neighbor of mine, who was a friend to all living creatures. One Sparky would die, and there would always be another Sparky. The Collective Consciousness of Squirrels not being something I'd previously considered, but it might come in handy the next (inevitable) time Sparky meets his/her demise. They just return to the collective Sparky pool (hey, works for me!)
Secondly, my son is nineteen and it happens frequently that I will hear him express a view, or repeat something that I recall telling him years ago. The most recent was, "The true test of character is in how we treat people we don't like."
Just saying, there's absolutely worth in trying to walk your talk...even when it ends with long discussions about departed Squirrels :-)
By the way, I'm here via Teri's blog, in case you're wondering from whence I came.
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