The Squirrel Olympics by Kiera Haberberger

The Squirrel Olympics

by Kiera Haberberger

Yesterday I saw a squirrel jump from the side walk on to the top of a stop sign, And although that - to me - would have been too far from the ground The squirrel didn’t stop

It sat there for what I imagined to be a third of a second before it then jumped to the stop light, I found it ironic that the squirrel jumped to the stop light just as it turned red

Kind of like how I ignore any warning signs that show up in my life But unlike the squirrel I don’t know how to jump From conclusion to conclusion Instead I overthink

I started to think about what squirrels would be like If they competed in the Olympics

Cause they don’t seem to have any hesitation or fear They can jump without thinking twice Without even a purpose And I can’t even stand up without worrying that I might lose balance Or that I will get dizzy Or that my knees will give out

Because lately my knees hurt,

I remember at my first Winterfest I didn’t eat I started crying while others were dancing because I couldn’t dance I meant it like I did a month ago when I didn’t want to get out of bed When I found out that getting out of bed too quickly would make me

forget how to stand, so when I said that I couldn’t dance - It was for far more than just saving me from embarrassment It was for saving me from having to eat again

And that was when I started to ignore the stop signs just like those dumb squirrels. So I didn’t stop at the stop sign either

In fact I jumped right into carrying a bottle of Advil in my backpack

I remember hating the fucking coating on those pills,

The red dust that felt like sandpaper as it went down my throat

The Stop - Sign Ibuprofen

For the headaches I no longer got Because your body forgets about its normal functions when you start to ignore how it normally should

And for those of you who don’t know what I am talking about What I am talking about is when your body forgets to make you warm, Because you forgot to eat for the fourth day in a row

The Olympics are built around people idolizing others for their bodies In Greek tradition those men were considered the closest things to gods

These days, the men and women take pills - steroids And I was just a squirrel that took Advil

And a dude on the bus smelled like cough syrup the other day So maybe life is just forgetting the stop signs Like when my body forgot that it was supposed to be warm Maybe life is just forgetting that it’s supposed to be good for some people