Ladybugs and 10 yr olds.
A few days ago there seemed to be an over abundance of ladybugs. I’m not talking a major biblical plague, but maybe they all hatched at once. So as I spun around in my Tasmanian Devil sort of way making sure the kids were on time for school – I noted it as very interesting. My kids, of course, were enthralled, but since we were walking to school, I kept them moving along. No time for ladybugs.
Later, after the morning dishes, folding laundry, starting the zillionth load, and packing a couple of sandwiches, I took the youngest to the beach. (All that stuff makes me sound like the greatest supermom – but really, I’m not.) The ladybugs were there too, in herds. You couldn’t eat your sandwich without one jumping aboard your bread. My little one was starting to worry about eating them accidentally. She then noticed that they were crawling on her legs and began to panic because they felt creepy. After reassuring her and brushing off her legs, we noticed that there was a clump of maybe a hundred ladybugs in the sand just in front of the flat rock where we sat. As we watched, a sneaker wave came in and washed them all towards the sea. A cry of terror came out of my daughter with her begging me to save them. There I was frantically trying to gather soggy ladybugs in our little pink bucket. I told her that they would be ok once their little wings dried off in the sun. As far as bugs are concerned, I like ladybugs because they are cute and even better yet, they don’t bite. But that day, I had enough.
The next day was scorching. My boys’ soccer game was scheduled for the hottest part of the day. Not wanting to waste their energy by warming them up too much before the game, I had them sit as we went over tactics. But they were more interested in trying to catch the darn ladybugs! I told them ladybugs were good luck. Then the boys seemed to be gentler with them, settled down and I pulled out my clipboard.
I have a team that is all business when it comes to soccer. These 9-10yr olds love to play the game and are very successful as a team because they are so serious about it. So this day’s game was not different. At one point my best player- a very humble boy who plays with amazing natural ability and timing -seemed to be concentrating even more than usual for him. He had a little grin as he made contact with the ball. The ball sailed gracefully into the top of the goal net. He stood there looking out with the same smile on his face. “Wow, that’s confidence,” I thought. Then I called him in to substitute him, he came running in still smiling. (Usually my boys hate to get subbed out – frowning as they run to the sideline.) As he approached he called out to me, “Coach! Coach! You were right, they are good luck! A ladybug landed on my hand just before I got the pass. I made the goal – and it was still there!” His eyes were shining.
Lesson learned: sometimes you have to allow yourself to be that 10 year old in order to see real joy.
If you liked this, please subscribe to my RSS feed and/or email feed.
