Mother's Love

 Mother’s Love

Once there was a boy named George who was five years old. He was a smart little boy for five, because his Mommy and Daddy taught him to be curious, and have adventure in his life, but also to be safe while doing so. He learned from his Mommy and Daddy, but also from - guess what - a baby squirrel. 

You see, there was in George’s yard a willow tree. High in the tree was a squirrel’s nest. In the nest lived a mother squirrel and her baby squirrel. One day, the baby, tired of living in the nest and wanting a little adventure, peeked over the top of the nest at the wide world of the yard. However, he didn’t stop there. He crawled over the edge of the nest. The problem was, being a baby, he didn’t know much about gravity, and found himself whooshing down through thin air, and - plop - hit the not-so-soft ground. A little dazed, there he met a little dog, much bigger than himself, but small compared to his master, the large human nearby. The little dog, named Eden, who spends a good deal of time chasing squirrels as well as balls around the yard, didn’t know what to do with this one who didn’t run from him, but just laid there. Good thing, Daddy, the large human, shepherded Eden into the house, while he discussed with George and George’s Mommy what they could do to help the baby squirrel. Should Daddy put a ladder up and carry the baby up to the nest? George said “Yes!” So Mommy got a basket, and Daddy scooped the baby into it, and started up the ladder. The mother squirrel, however, looking to protect her baby, and mistaking Daddy’s good intentions, hurried down the tree with anger in her eyes, straight at Daddy. Wisely Daddy retreated down the ladder to prevent a problem of his own with gravity. George, and Mommy, and Daddy decided to place the baby squirrel’s basket in the tree where the trunk branched-out low to the ground. Then Daddy, Mommy, and George went into the house and watched from the window.

Sure enough, the mother squirrel scurried down the tree toward her baby’s basket. Arriving at the basket, she circled it, hopping from branches above and below, but couldn’t reach her baby. This went on for a minute or two, until George’s Mommy said, “We need to take the baby out of the basket, and put him right on the tree.” Just as she said this, the baby crawled out of the basket, and onto the tree. He held onto the tree with all his tiny might, because he now knew what gravity was, until his mother hurried down the tree to retrieve him. The humans watched and wondered how mother squirrel could carry her baby all the way to the top of the tree. George’s Mommy, knowing how ingenious mothers are in saving their babies who are always testing gravity, was confident mother squirrel could do it. Sure enough, George, Daddy, and Mommy watched as mother squirrel rolled her baby onto her back, and had him back in the nest in nothing flat.

Mommy and Daddy and George let out a whoop - and a tear or two - with high fives all around! The baby was saved by Mother’s Love, with a little help from the humans. George saw love in action, learned something about being both adventurous and safe, and a new word, gravity. Thanks to the baby squirrel, and his mommy.