Janice C. Kemp
Janice C. Kemp
This story came about when I recently was with my one year old grandson and he eyed a ladybug.
I was holding baby Austin the other day and I noticed that he noticed a little lady bug crawling around. There have been times in my life that I no more noticed a ladybug than the moon in the sky. Those are the times when I am just too busy to look at bugs, plants, or anything else around me! I have important things to do like work, shop, cook, clean, and all those 'other' things we seem to think we just have to do.
Other times, I've been out on a live aboard sailboat with just the sky and the water and all I could see was the moon and the beautiful stars. I would look at those stars with amazement wondering how you can be in the Bahamas or other parts of the world and see the same stars you see in Alabama. At least, I think you can! I'm not an astrologer but I think you can see the same Big Dipper in Honduras as you can in Alabama! Maybe I better study up on stars.
When did we stop looking, listening, and learning? A baby notices everything so he can copy, touch, and learn. A person can always learn no matter how old they are.
What is with a ladybug anyway? What is their purpose? When I saw baby Austin looking at the bug, I started singing the old tune I knew as a child, "Lady Bug, Lady Bug, fly away home, your house is on fire and your children are gone". What in the world does that mean? Who started that rhyme? Why? Was it for a purpose or just folly? You know what? I looked up ladybug in the dictionary. A lot of help it was. The dictionary says that a lady bug is "a small, usually reddish, black-spotted beetle." Okay, what does a ladybug do and what does it eat? I guess I need to check it out in the encyclopedia or the Internet. The dictionary also mentions that ladybug can be spelled either as one word or two words. Enough about lady bugs. The deal is what do we see? What do we know about the things we see and why are they there?
Gosh, every day is a gift. Every breath we breathe. When it comes down to what we have done with our lives, what we are doing with them now, and what we plan to do with them for the rest of our lives; I think the simple things are the best. It's a known fact that rich people are not necessarily happy people and that the highest rate of suicide is with psychiatrists. I guess hearing about the world's problems can get to a person after a while!
I miss the long lazy summer days of my youth when summer seemed like forever! I really didn't do much. I remember lying on a quilt under an old Oak tree reading and that was fun. I read so I could visit other places and other people's lives.
I need to pay more attention to what Baby Austin is looking at when I'm with him! Heck, he notices every crumb on the floor and he can't even talk yet!
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