In Search of the White Squirrel (for the Elaines)

When I first started coming out to Oberlin to visit, I heard stories about a white squirrel, a "ghost squirrel" that was frequently seen on campus. I was initially quite skeptical about this, figuring it was some kind of "urban legend". Then, on one of my visits, I was walking across Tappan Square with my son and he said, "Hey, there's that white squirrel!" Sure enough, there was a cute little pure-white squirrel running around not too far from us. I soon learned that the white squirrel I had seen was one of several; that they were albinos and everyone in Oberlin had seen them at one time or another. That was a time when I was yearning to move to Oberlin from Denver and somehow, the white squirrel became my private symbol for the town. Even after I moved to Oberlin, seeing a white squirrel became a personal omen of good luck. I didn't stay in Oberlin, though. After 7 1/2 mostly happy years, I decided it was time to move back to Denver, to be closer to family. One day, after I had made the decision to move, I was taking a walk in the woods and came across a dead and decomposing albino squirrel. Talk about omens! Over a period of weeks the squirrel had been reduced to a mostly-skeleton. One day, I took the skull home with me and it still sits on my shamanic altar, a bittersweet symbol of a place I still hold close to my heart.