Yesterday I was walking to work through Madison Square Park. This is a beautiful park with loads of green space, tall leafy trees and tons of squirrels. You can even find them trying to eat banana peels!My mind was swimming with thoughts of all I'd gone through the past weekend and wondering what my protocol for the next cycle would be when suddenly I heard:
CRASH! THUMP! KERSPLAT!
In front of me lay a squirrel crumpled on the pavement having fallen from the tree above me. Our eyes locked as his body twitched. Horrified, I looked around this normally busy park to find someone who had witnessed this crazy event. A woman came up behind me and I pointed to the poor squirrel. She remarked that she'd heard the crash and we both stood on the path speechless.
"This is a bad omen, an ominous beginning to my day", I worried out loud....
And then the little guy gave a big jerk, righted himself up and scampered over the grass, just like that.
The woman, this perfect stranger, put her hand on my arm and looking me in the eye said,
"It's not a bad omen. It just means that sometimes we fall down. And when we do, we need to pull ourselves together, get back up and carry on again."
Bidding me a nice day she walked away.
12 comments:
i was just catching up here...ohhhh so sorry. i know that *little bit pregnant* thing ohhhh so well....
sending you good thoughts ....
oh,, and i'm adding you to my blogroll, k?
:)
wow, that is such a powerful story and i don't believe in coincidence at all. and even though you didn't know it, *i* needed to hear that story today as well.
Wow. I have chills and tears. What a wonderful story. How did that woman know what you needed to hear right at that moment?
This is the kind of thing that comes to mind whenever someone comments on NYers being cynical or cold or rude. I always found on the whole that NYers were incredibly warm. Thanks for sharing your story!
that gave me the chills! it's amazing how what we need to hear comes to us, in some way, shape or form. wow.
That story makes me cry. That is great!
I love your story. Even though I am sure it could have happened anywhere, to me it seems like one of those incredible New York moments when the hussle and noise fade away and perspective and/or hope is restored. I love that about the City.
I think there is a White Stripes song about learning from squirrels? Life is odd, but we take hope where we can get it. xxoo
A living metaphor. Or should that be analogy? Either way, it's a cool story. Sorry about the not being pregnant thing.
Hello, I have been reading your blog for sometime now and wanted to invite you and your partner to our meetup.
I come via the baby center GLBT TTC board and we are planing a meetup for
June 15th @
P H I L I P M A R I E
on Hudson Street Street
http://www.philipmarie.com/
If you would like more info you can email me at
Gia@Giasjourney.com
It's just a brunch of us from the NYC metro area that are TTC meeting and for brunch and talks
i saw a squirrel about a month ago get totally hit by a car (not partially) we shrieked, it was awful, then he rolled a few times, shook it off and ran away and up a fence. unreal.
i wish i could be so resilient.
just stoping by to check on you!
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