Thumper

This past week I had an unfortunate accident. I hit a squirrel. I was on my way to work. No radio, no phone, no distractions...it was actually a bird's fault. This young little sparrow was chasing a squirrel into the street right around this curve. I saw it but alas, it was too late. thump thump. I didn't even look in the rear view mirror out of fear of seeing a massive blood streak across the road. I rode the last two miles thinking about how the little guy was probably just playing tag with it's friend.

So I arrive at work and announce to one of my coworkers that I was a murderer. In consoling me, she let me know the first time was the hardest. It wasn't too excruciating as I was quite over the death of the innocent creature about thirty minutes later.

Two hours pass and a coworker goes outside to check the mail and comes back in with a curious question. "Katie - did you hit a squirrel today?" Usually when you run over a random rodent, the beast dies and you only have the remorse of killing a small animal with your vehicle. See this time - that was not the case. The squirrel had broken legs and was dragging its poor broken body away from my car...mostly in a circle like fashion.

WHAT DO YOU DO?

We had no idea. Do you call the vet? Do you call road side service? Do you put the poor thing out of its misery? So I did the logical thing and called Jeremy. His response - "well I have never heard of this situation before." Not much help :(

So the mama of our group grabbed the poor thing by the tail and pulled it into a box lid. We took it to the woods (to pass into squirrel heaven in its own environment). Thirty minutes later it was dead.

Every other squirrel will never be as scrappy as Tag (that's what I named it - after its tragic game with the bird). And the funny thing is, I will probably remember that squirrel for the rest of my life - not because it was my first roadkill (err...parkinglotkill) but because that little sucker held onto my car for two miles and then went out fighting. What an example for us how we should all live our lives!

So girls - in honor of Tag, I challenge you to go take risks, play with younger chicks, and have some fun. And remember this - if some little rodent can hold on to a tire for two miles while getting thumped over and over - you are gonna be able to survive most anything! Yes - partly because we have excellent healthcare in this country but also because you are gonna hold on. So go get em tiger!