Squirrel Poop

Every morning i put a handful of sunflower seeds on the railing of our second-story deck. It's enough to feed the birds for a few hours. Or it's enough for a squirrel's breakfast. Devoured in 10 minutes. And as a thank-you gift, she leaves her calling cards--two 1/4 teaspoon yellow puddles and five pellets that are slightly larger than chocolate sprinkles.

I flick the "chocolate sprinkles" off the rail and into my flower bed below the deck. I wonder, idly, how long it would take me to fertilize a single plant with squirrel poop.

I attended the hospice memorial planting service at the hospice garden last evening. A friend showed me the matchbox in which she carries her son's ashes. She leaves these spoonsful of ashes all over town, near the places he used to frequent. She said she put some of his ashes under the cherry tree in her yard along with some of his father's ashes. The other day, she looked at the tree and realized her son and his father were in the tree. Literally. Their ashes-to-ashes, their dust-to-dust, their earth element was feeding that tree.

I could feel her vibrating with that visceral recognition.

May we all recognize our one-ness with Life.