A Red Dot and a Blur of Fur

It's just a small red dot. It does not breathe, move, or talk. It is nothing significant. Yet, its power over me is incredibly strong.

Every morning, I take my place. I carefully line myself up squarely on the red dot. I take a deep breath, sometimes a swig of Dr. Pepper, and brace myself.

One little squirrel shyly skitters up to me. It seems harmless and sweet. I smile, bend down, and give it a nice pat on the head.

A second squirrel pushes its little head under my hand, shoving the first squirrel to the side. I give him a nice pat on the head too, and then force a stern look. "It's not nice to push."

No sooner do I finish reprimanding the second squirrel and a third squirrel dashes up to demand my attention. I start to get annoyed. Why do these squirrels love me so much? Why can't they pick on someone their own size?

I try to address the third squirrel's issues, but to no avail. All three squirrels begin bickering and running in circles around me. More and more join in until the racing circle of squirrels has become one contiguous blur of fur.

I couldn't count them if I wanted to. I can't even tell one squirrel from another. I have no idea which squirrels are small and which are large. Which are red and which are brown.

I reach out and snatch one up. I look it over and try to address its issues. At that point, I hear a loud screech from the whirling blur of fur. I toss the squirrel back in the ring and try to snatch up the source of the ear piercing scream.

And so the cycle continues. Grab a squirrel only to throw him back in and get another. Over and over and over again.

My heart starts pounding loudly in my ears. The muscles in my back feel on fire. I breathe harder and faster. It takes all that is in me to keep from screaming, "GO AWAY!!!" And sometimes… sometimes, I can’t keep from screaming.

At the end of the day, the squirrels begin to slink back into the shadowy corners. They do not go away, but at least they're calm. I step off my red dot and pray they don't follow me to bed.
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Every day I am faced with a thousand and one things that need to be done from several different categories. Kids, husband, house, work, gifts, family, friends, food, cleaning, the little creative streak begging to emerge... they all call loudly, clambering over who's more important.

Some people call it "too many irons in the fire". Me- I call it "too many squirrels in the ring."

Yesterday, I took the day off. I had only one thing on my To Do list: ENJOY THE DAY WITH THE KIDS. And you know what? I did. Nothing got done. At all.

But it was a day of peace. A day of God's Word. A day of snuggles. A day of books. A day of kisses and hugs. A day of laughter. A day of slippers, fuzzy pajama pants, and Chai tea (because the coffee con mildew was not appetizing - any hints on cleansing a coffee maker?).

We laughed over addition and counted wrong on purpose. We read the reader upside down (for a while... after all, enough is enough). We tickled each other. We made snow angels and a little handsome snowman.

It was lovely and PEACEFUL. I like not being slave to the red dot and blur of fur. I should do it more often.



(This post was supposed to include photos from yesterday, but I shot that squirrel. “It is funny, because the squirrel gets dead.”*)

*Quote from the Disney Pixar movie, Up
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This post is my take on Courtney's Peace on Earth December Challenge for this week. (I needed more than a bubble bath.) She is challenging her readers each week with practical ways to keep this season peaceful and not hectic and joyless.