The Legendary Great White Squirrel

I wrote the following story and posted it on my Facebook notes page back on September 28, 2010.

On Saturday, January 7th, 2012, I had another sighting. The squirrel ran across the road in front of my car on Long Avenue in Midlothian, IL.  My son, Cody, and two of his friends also sighted the elusive creature.  I immediately stopped my car and got out to take a photo on my cell phone.  The squirrel headed up a nearby tree and I got this photo of the squirrel before he got away…the legend lives on….

The Legendary White Squirrel Spotted January 7, 2012

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Call me Ishmael.

I first encountered the white squirrel about 5 years ago when we first moved into our house.

We were keeping our plastic garbage can outside our garage.  I had noticed that the lid to the garbage can had holes eaten through it.  I thought it was a raccoon that had eaten through the lid.

Then, one day, I was going to put a bag of garbage in the can and, as I got to the garbage can and went to remove the lid, a creature emerged from the hole in the lid of the can.  I thought it was a rat and jumped back, but quickly realized it was a white squirrel that was scampering away.  I had never seen a white squirrel and called to my wife to see it too.  We saw it on and off in the days to come.  But we haven’t seen it around lately.  I wondered whether the winter had claimed its life.

Yesterday, I found the white squirrel back in our yard again.  This time I got some photographic evidence of it, even though the quality of the photo isn’t much in the line of proof…the quality of the image is poor because I took it on my cell phone camera. I blew up the image and put a red circle around the squirrel in the image below.

The Legendary White Squirrel

I looked up on the internet that squirrels can live up to 20 years in captivity, but usually only 7 to 10 years in the wild.  White squirrels are rare, except in a few localities including Olney, IL http://www.ci.olney.il.us/Visitors/WhiteSquirrel.htm , so I think this is the same squirrel.

Shall I name him Moby?  Herman?  Melville?  Ahab? Olney? Whitey?  Jaws?

Should I hunt him obsessively to the point of insanity and at the risk of my life?

Should I get a real job?…a life?

The Best Christmas Gift

The best Christmas gifts cost nothing.

This year I received the best Christmas gift from my fifteen year old son, Cody.

The Best Christmas Gift

On Wednesday, December 21, we gathered at my home to exchange Christmas gifts with my mom, my brother Michael, and Uncle Fr. Charles.  Schedules were going to be busy around Christmas, so we took an evening before Christmas to spend some quality time together, share a meal, and exchange gifts.

The very first gift I received and opened was a very small and lightweight package presented to me by Cody.  It was less than 2 inches in diameter and only pages thin.

I asked Cody if I had to be careful opening it. It didn’t feel like there was anything inside it, and I was afraid I would tear or damage it.  He gave me an affirmative answer. I opened and unfolded it carefully.

Written on the inside of the gift wrap paper was a message that read “To receive, come see me.  (IOU)”.

To receive, come see me. (IOU)

I was a little bewildered by the message, and initially a little disappointed. An IOU for Christmas?  What could he have for me that he couldn’t have wrapped and given to me?  What could he be up to?

Moments later, Cody came to me where I was sitting on the couch, sat on my lap, threw his arms around my neck, and said,

“I love you so much.  You’re the best daddy ever.“

Ed and Cody

Cody and I have had some relational problems and conflicts in recent years.  We’ve been through very difficult situations and circumstances together. We didn’t always handle them well, as much as we may have tried.

But I’ve been trying very hard to work through them with him on my end.  And I think he recognizes how hard I’ve been trying.  I think he’s been trying too.  We’ve made a lot of progress this past year.  He’s been so much more loving, affectionate and helpful at home.  I’ve recognized that I’ve been more encouraging and loving to him too.  He’s been doing much better in school too and finished the first quarter on the honor roll at school.  I’m very proud of him.  I’m proud of the progress we’ve made together.

To me, the gift of this moment, was a beautiful sign of the healing that has been taking place between us.

I felt Cody’s warm arms around my neck, his weight bearing down on me, and his face pressing next to mine.

Then I felt joyful and jolly on the inside.  I felt a belly laugh bubble up from deep down inside worthy of old Santa Claus himself.

If I wasn’t in the Christmas spirit before, I was now.

I kissed and thanked him.

We had a photo taken to capture the beautiful moment.

The rest of the gifts I receved this Christmas were very fine, and things that I could really use and enjoy for a long time to come.

But the gift from Cody, the one that cost nothing, was priceless.

Rocky Times

I love the human spirit.  And I love how movies capture that spirit…and inspire.

My favorite movie of all time is It’s A Wonderful Life.  This Frank Capra directed and Jimmy Stewart starred film is a Christmas holiday classic that captures the essence of that spirit.  It is a moving picture, in more ways than one, that deliver’s the divinely inspired message that every person’s life matters, and that “no man is a failure who has friends”.  I’ve seen the movie dozens of times since my first experience of it in college.  I watched it again recently, and would gladly watch it again and again.  It is well acted, finely directed, and has a compelling story that makes you thankful to be alive because it inspires you to appreciate and love the good in your humanity.  I don’t cry easily, but I frequently cry watching this movie.  If you haven’t seen it, see it.  If you have seen it, you must know what I know…see it again.

And, I’ve already written about my love of the movie Groundhog Day in my post at http://ednovick.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/groundhog-day/.  It is another movie that has a rich story message to inspire us as humans to keep getting up and living to your best ability every day.  I’ve seen it dozens of times, and would, again, and again, and again….

Another movie series that inspires my love for the human spirit is the Rocky movie series.  Say what you will about Sylvester Stallone as a movie actor, he has time and again captured the essence of the courage of the human spirit to never, never, never give up.

The final movie in the series, Rocky Balboa, was not as acclaimed or successful as the original Rocky movie, but once again, it captured the courage of the human spirit through the words and action of the Rocky character.

In my favorite scene from that movie, Rocky speaks to his son in words that every father should want to convey in both words and actions:

“The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.”

If you, like me, are having your own rocky times this Christmas season - times when life hits you hard and beats you to your knees - find inspiration wherever you can while you’re down there.  Maybe you’ll find it in a loved movie.  Maybe you’ll find it in a friend or loved one.  Maybe you’ll find it in a divinely-inspired message and “see the light” like Jake Blues in The Blues Brothers (another one of my favorite movies!).

But wherever you find the inspiration you need during your own rocky times this Christmas season, know that you are not alone, you have friends who care, and keep moving forward…keep moving forward…keep moving forward.   Better times are ahead.

Merry Christmas, and may God bless you and yours in the new year.

You can watch the referenced Rocky Balboa scene at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEY1G2-Nwfg

The Infamous Christmas Squirrel Story

My mom and dad used to get a real evergreen tree for a Christmas tree.  Not anymore.

Christmas 1993 my dad noticed that the Christmas tree they got and decorated would occassionally shake.  He thought it was because of the heating vent behind the tree kicking on and blowing the tree.  He was wrong.

Christmas Eve day they noticed that the tree was shaking again.  They discovered that a squirrel had a nest in the tree – just like in the movie Christmas Vacation!  It was loose in the living room!  They tried to open the front door and chase it out.  Instead, it ran downstairs apparently into the crawlspace.

We have a Christmas Eve party every year.   People were coming over with a squirrel loose in the house.  My dad asked the neighbor to send his dogs into the basement crawlspace to get the squirrel.  The dogs weren’t any help.  We ended up getting a squirrel trap and set it up in the basement with nuts for bait, and proceeded to have the party.  Overnight, we slept in the bedrooms with the doors closed.  Christmas morning…still no squirrel. We opened Christmas presents and got dressed….still no squirrel.  We went to Christmas mass at church and back home…still no squirrel.

We went to a Christmas Day party away from home and my brother went home and discovered an angry and growling squirrel had been caught in the trap!  He called my dad to tell him, and my dad went home and brought my uncle, an outdoorsy hunter with guns, with him to handle it.

They were concerned that if they let the squirrel out of the cage that it would either turn on them and attack them, or would try to get back into the house.

They decided to try to drown the squirrel.  They filled up a garbage can with water and put the cage into the garbage can, but the cage was a little too big and the cage stuck out of the water enough that the squirrel got wet, but could still get air at the top.

Now they had a wet, cold AND angry squirrel on their hands!

They decided to shoot the squirrel with a pellet gun.  The pellet shot hurt the squirrel, but didn’t kill it.  Now they had a wet, cold, injured and VERY angry squirrel on their hands.

Finally, my uncle shot the squirrel with a low gauge gun, putting the squirrel, and my dad, out of their misery.

Back to the party for a Merry Christmas with a classic and unforgetable funny story to tell.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Fright Night

I’m not really into Holloween, scary movies, fear-inducing experiences or horror.

But I do love my kids, and they seem to like this stuff.

So, I enjoyed some recent ‘Halloween’-ie experiences with them and thought I’d share some details here.

On October 8th, I took Canyon to a Halloween event at a local campground for trick-or-treating.  Campers decorate the campground as a Halloween wonderland, enjoy Halloween activities, and in the evening, trick-or-treat from camp site to camp site for candy!  Some of the campsites rival haunted houses in their scary displays and experiences.  The scariest part? My little boy was so convincing dressed up as a girl that people who saw him thought he WAS a girl, and the other girls there wondered why ‘the new girl’ wouldn’t play with them.

Canyon(a) and me in a Jason Halloween mask and santa hat costume (scary)

On October 16th, Tess, Canyon and I joined some of my cousin’s family at Fright Fest at Great America.  The weather was clear, but cool, and the kids had a great time on the roller coasters and rides.  Later in the evening, ghouls came out in costumes to scare the park patrons.  I got a few good screams out of the girls sneaking up on them and growling from behind.  It was a fun day.

Super man and super kids

The kids and I watched the season 2 premiere of a tv series called ‘The Walking Dead’ recently.  It is a series about a world where a virus has infected the human population, killing them, and turning them into zombies, except for a few humans who fight for survival from the flesh-eating and virus spreading ‘walking dead’.  It is a well done drama with a good script, is well acted, and isn’t too scary.  We watched season 1 together last year, and were happy to learn that it had been approved for another season with weekly episodes running throughout this fall.

A new movie called Fright Night came out recently that is a modern day remake of a campy movie of the same name from 1985.  I first watched the original when I was in college.  When Cody was 5 it was on tv.  I thought it was a little too scary for the young man, but Cody said, ‘But I want to watch it, dad.  I can face my fear’.  I relented, let him watch it, and lived to regret it.  He did face the movie, but the fears persisted long after the movie.  He wouldn’t go into a room by himself for many weeks…including the bathroom.  It created a lot of conflict in our home, and within me, for a long time afterwards.

Now that he’s older, he seems to like scary things.

Well, no matter where you stand on the ‘tolerance of fear’ spectrum, I hope you can enjoy the Holloween season, even if it is only for the pure fun of seeing the little kids in their favorite costume enjoying eating their candy.

You and I

I appreciate many of the poignant songs from Five For Fighting’s John Ondrasik, and have since the early 2000s. My favorites are “Superman (It’s Not Easy To Be Me)”, “100 Years”, and “The Riddle”.

Superman sings about a person who who can do some heroic things, but he does not feel as powerful and perfect as people see him on the outside. Instead, he describes himself experiencing an ordinary man’s struggles to understand himself, to live up to expectations, and fulfill his responsibilities. I identify with the superman in the song and imagine many other people do too.

100 Years is about how time and life passes by so fleetingly. It truly does. Today I can relate to: “I’m 45 for a moment, The sea is high, And I’m heading into a crisis, Chasing the years of my life”. I think many people can identify with all the ages and circumstances mentioned in the song. The song talks to people.

The Riddle is about the meaning of life. Read the lyrics below…they are so deep and rich. In the song, John’s voice is so unique and he sings the song so poignantly.

There was a man back in ’95
Whose heart ran out of summers
But before he died, I asked him

Wait, what’s the sense in life
Come over me, Come over me

He said,

Son why you got to sing that tune
Catch a Dylan song or some eclipse of the moon
Let an angel swing and make you swoon
Then you will see… You will see

Then he said,

Here’s a riddle for you
Find the Answer
There’s a reason for the world
You and I…

Picked up my kid from school today

Did you learn anything cause in the world today
You can’t live in a castle far away
Now talk to me, come talk to me

He said,

Dad I’m big but we’re smaller than small
In the scheme of things, well we’re nothing at all
Still every mother’s child sings a lonely song
So play with me, come play with me

And Hey Dad
Here’s a riddle for you
Find the Answer
There’s a reason for the world
You and I…

I said,

Son for all I’ve told you
When you get right down to the
Reason for the world…
Who am I?

There are secrets that we still have left to find
There have been mysteries from the beginning of time
There are answers we’re not wise enough to see

He said… You looking for a clue I Love You free…

The batter swings and the summer flies
As I look into my angel’s eyes
A song plays on while the moon is high
Over me
Something comes over me

I guess we’re big and I guess we’re small
If you think about it man you know we got it all
Cause we’re all we got on this bouncing ball
And I love you free
I love you freely

Here’s a riddle for you
Find the Answer
There’s a reason for the world
You and I…

I can remember riding in the car with my son, Cody, coming home from a Cub Scout camping trip in October 2007 that was so cold outside I thought we were going to freeze to death. It was at a time when life’s meaning was in question as my marriage was dying an unwanted death, my heart was breaking, I was hurting so bad, my family was threatened, and my time and future with my children who I love so very much was both precious and uncertain.

The Riddle came on the radio. And I cried.

And ever since, as I did before, I put on my cape each day like I always have, fight the good fight, savor the fleeting moments of joy and pain, and passionately give my all. I can only hope it is enough. It will have to be. You and I are the reason we’re here. There is no other place or purpose. As Jesus and so many other loved ones before us showed us, you and I are worth it all.

Summer Music Memories

I experienced some awesome concerts this summer.

I heard two of my favorite bands, Steely Dan and Chicago, play at Ravinia in August. There was a little rain for the Steely Dan concert, but the weather was beautiful and clear for Chicago, and the experience was magical and wonderful. Familiar musical favorites streamed one after another in the warm August evening air, stirring memories and emotions like a whirlpool in my soul.

I also enjoyed the Million Dollar Quartet playing an exciting medley of rock and roll hits downtown in Millennium Park. The act included Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins impersonators bringing alive the music and images of these great music legends. The crowd was large, and thoroughly enjoyed the free entertainment in the park.

The Million Dollar Quartet show in Millennium Park

Enjoying the concert with my mom, on the right

I may yet enjoy another concert or two before the winter winds chase us in for the year, but even if not, I’ll cherish the memories I made this summer, listening to the music I love.

I’m A Poet, Don’t You Know It

I’ve fancied myself a poet, at times, over the years.

I haven’t written a lot of poems, but have tried my hand at it from time to time.

I am a romantic at heart, and what romantic doesn’t appreciate poetry, think like a poet, and want to share his thoughts and feelings with the world and posterity?

One of my best and favorites is So Many Steps Forgotten.

Relaying Thanks

Last night I walked in the Relay for Life event at Lewis University to benefit the American Cancer Society (ACS). Thank you to all of you who sponsored me and gave generously to ACS!

Having signed up with only 2 days to spare, I was so proud and thankful for the generousity of my friends and family who promptly sponsored me. I set a goal of $500 which is what I had raised the last 2 years, and hoped for the best. My online donations now total $330 and I have many supporters who were sending me checks or cash toward ACS. I currently have pledges or cash totaling $440, and have at least 3 others who have pledged to send some unspecified amount by check, so I’m confident I’ll hit my goal or will make up the difference myself.

Additionally, our alumni team of 8 alumni raised right around our $1500 goal. The Young Alumni Board did a great job of organizing participation in this event for the third year in a row, had more team members than the past two years, and set a new high total for funds raised by our alumni team. They also had a table for the first time at the event and sold cupcakes to help us raise even more money.

The opening ceremony and lumenaria ceremony were also powerful moments of reflection and hope for cancer survivors, caregivers and fundraisers wanting just to help everyone celebrate ‘more birthdays’.

I walked 65 laps around the indoor track between 6:30pm and 12:30am when I left. This equates to slightly over 8 miles. The 65 laps were symbolic for me – one for each year of my dad’s life’s trip around the sun. I thought of him often throughout the night.

My feet and hips are sore today, but it is well worth the effort and pain to participate in this event and help raise money for ACS’s effort.

Thank you for your support and generousity. Donations can still be made at http://main.acsevents.org/goto/zephyrgarten.

To read about my past Relay for Life experiences:
2010 – http://ednovick.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/thank-you-to-many-generous-sponsors-and-to-you-dad/
2009 – http://ednovick.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/relay-for-life/

The Marauder Family Tradition Continues

Exciting news! My youngest son, Canyon, who is 9, got a call last night that he’s been drafted by the Marauders!

Flashback to 35 years ago when I got the same call from Mr. Vaughan to give me the same message!

The family baseball tradition continues! Looking forward to Orangeball and games on ‘Ed Novick Field’ named in honor of his grandpa!

To learn about how and when Ed Novick Field was named, read: http://ednovick.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/a-perfect-baseball-birthday/