It can be sad when children leave the nest, but as parents know, it’s an inevitable—and joyful, part of life.

Leslie Woodfill had raised a son and daughter, and recently delighted in the arrival of a newly born grandson. But earlier this year, her friend called asking if she would be interested in adopting a baby—a young eastern gray squirrel she had found in the street and rescued from a cat. Having raised two squirrels in the past, Leslie knew that babies rely on their mother for a long time, and if abandoned or lost from the nest, will be dehydrated and starving. Luckily, she knew the care methods and was excited about the challenge of helping the little creature survive.

Leslie fed the squirrel, Lilly, puppy formula with an eye dropper every two hours, until she was big enough to eat on her own. It wasn’t long before the menu included Cheerios and fruits and veggies, and of course, plenty of nuts like walnuts, hazelnuts, and acorns, specially ordered from Nuts.com.

When “Miss Lilly” first came to live with Leslie, her home was a cat carrier, but as she grew and became more mobile and comfortable with her surroundings, she had free rein of the house. When the sun would go down, she instinctively seemed to know that it was her bedtime, and went into a nest she had built in the back of a closet. When spring arrived, and weather warmed, Leslie created an outdoor habitat, complete with a tree and a covered platform with a little house, where Lilly could start to acclimate back nature.

“I put her blanket in there, and she took right to it,” Leslie says. “I had a harder time with it than she did—the first few nights I brought her in because I thought she might be too cold, but when I’d put her back in the habitat she would be running around, and she just loved it.”

Eventually, when Leslie felt the time was right, she cut two holes in the habitat’s screened wall so her little friend could have her freedom.

“She stuck her head out, and was like, ‘Well, this is interesting,’ and out she went,” Leslie says. “She spent most of the first day in the hawthorne tree that’s part of her habitat, and then she went into the yard, and up a telephone pole. She finally came back, and at night she’d go right back into her habitat.”

When Leslie left for a weekend trip to Seattle, Miss Lilly went on an adventure of her own. “I think I saw her in a nearby tree eating a pinocchio nose seed pod that she loves,” Leslie recalls. “I’m pretty sure it was her because she has a funny mannerism in that she preens a lot, and will wash her face and tail, and she has a really bushy tail.

“You raise her with the intent that she’ll have the ability to experience being a free squirrel, and it’s a lot like having kids, and off they go down the sidewalk to start a new life,” Leslie says. “You still worry, but you have to trust that the experiences you gave them were enough so that they’ll be okay.”

Even living indoors, it was obvious Miss Lilly was bound to be an outside squirrel. She would hide nuts throughout the house, tucked behind pillows and stored in the toe of a shoe. Often, she would sit in the front window and watch the goings-on in the world.

“I would have liked her to have been a pet,” Leslie says, “but it was obvious that wasn’t her nature.

“Lilly has a really strong spirit and was very independent. She would let you pet her, and she would run up my arm and sit on my shoulder, but she wasn’t going to let you hold her for a long time . . . it was on her own terms, and you have to honor that spirit.

“You have to respect the lives of all creatures, and you have to listen to what they are saying. You can’t just assume that because they’re an animal they don’t have an opinion of how their life looks,” Leslie adds. “It’s not just people who have their own will, and you have to be respectful of all creatures.”