Before dawn this morning, I walked to the metro to go downtown to one of my favorite yoga classes. There were a few scattered clouds in the sky, but I still had a nice view of Orion as I walked through the neighborhood, until I got to Spring Street where bright lights and taller buildings take over.
The metro trains were hot and crowded in both directions, and by the time I got back to Silver Spring for the walk home, I was feeling unsettled - not sure what I was going to accomplish for the day and not feeling much energy. I crossed Georgia Avenue and headed down the neighborhood streets.
There are a lot of squirrels here - even if you don't count me - and they come in several different colors - like automobiles. Also like automobiles, a couple of the most common colors are gray and black. Anytime of the day you can expect to see a number of them foraging in the yards, chasing each other around the trees, or traveling along the utility lines overhead. But it isn't normal to be nearly run down by one.
I caught a flash of furry movement in my peripheral vision and turned to see one of the gray models racing through the yard to the left, out into the street just behind me, and speeding past - dodging a little bit when it noticed me impeding the way. This was very much like the behavior of the black Tesla Model S that I had just encountered while crossing Georgia Avenue. The squirrel was just as quiet, and even more nimble. It raced over to a tree along the road and began to climb the trunk.
This particular tree is some exotic evergreen. It has a tall and very straight trunk that is completely bare of branches until quite high up -- probably 40 or 50 feet. There already was another squirrel, a black model with an acorn in its teeth, on the trunk a few feet from the ground. The squirrels seemed disinterested in each other, but unusually interested in me.
I decided to stop and watch, and prolong the encounter. The racing squirrel climbed about 20 feet up the trunk, then turned and positioned itself head down on the side of the tree. I had been marveling at how secure and adept they are, clinging to the bark, and when it turned head down I had visions of how I would be feeling in the same situation - head down clinging to the vertical side of a tree, or a cliff. I would not be feeling secure, and adept.
Then I noticed that the black squirrel had moved around the tree to the same side of the trunk and positioned itself in the same way, head down, still holding the acorn. They were clearly focused on me, as I was on them. Perhaps they had an affinity for my gray and black attire. It seemed unusual to me. I am used to them paying enough attention to see whether I'm a threat, or perhaps to chatter at me, but usually they quickly scamper away.
Today though, these two seemed as intent on studying me as I was them. Sort of an awareness stare down, I guess. In the end, they won. After a few minutes I decided to head on down the street, thinking about how when we are truly aware, we realize how extraordinary the ordinary really is. By stopping to commune with these two creatures for a few minutes, I was brought back to the wonder of the world and my place in it, here and now. No longer unsettled, I was connected, grounded by squirrels.
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