A Hole in My Heart

There’s a hole in my heart today…our darling Chewka Marie Woodbury has gone over the rainbow bridge. We found her when she was about four weeks old and she lived in our house with us for four years (which is quite a good run for a squirrel from what I understand). (You can read her full story in “A Squirrel’s Tail”). She had not been feeling well for about a week or so; during the time that she was out of her nest she didn’t run around. There was a lot of time with me just holding her and snuggling her. When we went outside, she didn’t run around the yard either; we just sat on the back porch, listening to the birds and watching the party that was going on at the squirrel feeding station. Mostly, she just wanted to sleep.

I can’t begin to tell you what she meant to me. I once read a saying, “Our friends see the best in us, and that very fact calls forth the best from us.” Chewka Marie had lived with us for quite some time when I was researching something squirrelly on the internet and I read something else: a squirrel rehabilitator warned that you should NEVER, EVER keep a squirrel as a pet. According to this person, squirrels were vicious little critters that could never be tamed. I’m so glad that I didn’t read that in the beginning. My ignorance allowed me to just go forward, building a relationship with my sweet Chewka Marie.

She really was something. She often rode on my shoulder as I walked around the house. She not only let me hold her and pet her, she actually let me kiss her neck and “gobble” on her belly. Even our veterinarian said that he had never seen such a tame squirrel. I loved our relationship, and I must admit that I loved the novelty of it, too. I have always had a soft spot for animals, and I often suspect that I don’t see them quite the same way that a lot of people do. Chewka Marie proved to me that my assumption that animals are more than we give them credit for is right. She was certainly more than just some rodent!

The picture above is my favorite picture of Chewka Marie because it captures the essence of who she was. She was a girl who loved to eat, and this resulted in a soft, cuddly little body which was just perfect for nuzzling (I often called her “My Little Plumpling”). She was a girl who had made herself perfectly at home inside our house. She slept in our family room, and she could snooze right through the noisy washing machine or a raucous debate on “O’Reilly Factor” on television. She loved to hide pecans and milk bones in our sofa cushions, and she could hop and jump from one piece of furniture to another like the best of squirrels. While the squirrels outside have a hard, harsh expression, her face was soft and gentle. She often had a little gleam in her eye and a half-smile on her face, as though she was up to something --and she often was! I'll never forget the look of total shock the first time that Chewka Marie snatched one of Toffee's milk bones, waddling away as fast as she could with her treasure. Toffee was too stunned to even give chase!

I will miss my Chewka Marie. She was the one creature on earth who truly, truly needed me, and she was such a special little squirrel, with a special spirit about her. I will always love her.