Small Miracles

I took this picture quickly in Washington DC just as as a nasty storm was blowing in. Was that man really feeding a squirrel with his bare hand? So much is happening in the world that doesn’t seem tender. But here was a moment, a small squirrel trusting a man in a hoody, coming right up to him to him to eat out of his hand. It felt like a small miracle.

He must be a good guy, I thought, because animals know these things. After twenty years in Brooklyn, my husband and I now live in Santa Fe County, New Mexico where St. Francis is the patron saint and believed all animals were his brothers and sisters. There are statues of Francis around town with a wolf, with a beaver (my favorite) — not a ton of beavers in the arid southwest, but we have a few. Endless gift stores with St. Francis carvings, his arms out, birds perched on his hand and his arms. They knew he was good. I wonder how they knew. I’ve never fed a wild animal from my hand that way. I’ve had a brown bunny come within a foot of me — it was thrilling — I quietly put down a piece of lettuce, though I think she was hoping for a bit more. Twice my husband and I have taken falconry classes, wearing fat leather gloves, holding a piece of raw chicken, we’d stretch out our arms and that’s all the falcon needs to see. It’s eyes focus fiercely as it sweeps in and lands on the glove. It’s a miracle — the bird is so light. The raw chicken is gone in a nano second.

The birds out here… the size of the ravens, some so big that when they land on a tree branch, the branch bends with their weight. Animals, we know, can bring out the goodness in humans. My dog Cleo is a rescue dog; her backstory would break your heart. She shouldn’t trust anybody, not really, but she moved into our family and we instantly bonded. Our dog Max had died six weeks before. We all needed each other.

A mother turtle crossing the road rewrites the old joke — why did the turtle cross the road? In this case, I watched her slow movement to nest under a tree, where she burrowed between two roots and laid her eggs. I saw this! The next day I walked back to the tree and I was so relieved that someone had built a low wire fence around the birthing center to protect the turtle mom and her eggs. Another good human; there are so many around.

A tiny squirrel eating from a man’s hand as a great snowstorm moves in. Who befriended whom? Was this the squirrel’s idea or the man’s? A mule deer sticks her head out of the bush. And for a moment, our eyes meet. What is she thinking? Here’s what I’m thinking: Oh, please, stay with me a little longer. And I forget everything else for that moment. A tiny white dog escapes from her yard and comes to our house. We knew she belonged to our neighbor, but she was visiting. She climbed on my lap and snuggled. I felt chosen, somehow. It was a moment that fills your heart and your mind to where the worries and fears of the day vanish for awhile before the small miracles. Even a tarantula, yes I said tarantula, and they are butt-ugly, but they have authority, the way they walk slowly across the road. They have leadership gifts. I smile at them, they don’t smile back, but the tarantulas out here don’t bite, they’re not here to make trouble.

People who study happiness say that it’s not the big things in life that lead to satisfaction — it’s the small moments, the sweet connections that give life a quiet joy. It gives me true satisfaction to say to a tarantula… “Thanks for stopping by…” To a brown bunny… “next time I’ll bring organic vegetables…” To a mule deer, “Darling, I love love your ears…” To a beaver, and I have had an intimate moment with a beaver when my family and I were hiking in the Adirondacks. The beaver rose from a pond and looked at me, I looked back. Our eyes met, and locked, no kidding. My husband and daughter were doing something else, but here was my encounter. I wondered: Are you going to change the water flow? Are you there alone? The beaver shook its tail and disappeared into the pond. A beaver can hold their breath for fifteen minutes under water. They are such good, helpful, adaptable creatures. I whispered,“Thanks for making my day.”

Here’s hoping you see many small miracles this season.

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