I don’t think I told you
But, I love all the Clint Eastwood movies like ‘Coogan’s Bluff”
Anyway, there’s this girl in the movie
A kind of crazy empty headed hippie character who said she had a ‘little green worm’ in her head
Well, I have a garden on the side of my garage next to the three trash cans
There’s a green, blue, and black plastic can
Each for a different purpose
One for green yard stuff, one for recyclables, and the other for regular trash
I grow Tomatoes, different Lettuce, Kale, Squash, a couple types of Peppers, and Arugula, each in their own particular season
Anyway, there’s these ‘little green worms’ that eat up my Kale and some of the other garden veggies
I never did want to kill them
I just let them alone to eat what they wanted
They don’t eat too much
I did spray non toxic soapy water on the garden to help repel them
That seems to keep them down I think without actually harming them
They don’t like the taste of dish soap, I suppose
I mean, I don’t, why would they?
I see all the holes in the Kale
Kind of looks like Swiss Cheese
But, I really don’t care
There’s enough fresh uneaten leaves, anyway for me to pluck off for a salad
Furthermore, I never eat it all anyway
It would go to waste
I don’t mind sharing extra with my little green friends
Anyway, I put coffee grounds and egg shells around the base to keep the snails at bay
I don’t have as much sympathy for those guys
But, I don’t believe in killing them, either
Anyway, I can’t remember where this little green worm was at the time
But, I do remember saving one of them from certain death
I might have fished him out of the bottom of the Jacuzzi or pool with the pool net
I don’t exactly remember where I got him from, but I remember I saved one
But, when it rains
The regular long brown kind of worms end up in the pool
Some I can fish out and save
Others, it’s too late for them
I think the Chlorine kills them
I do try to save anyone (except cockroaches and flies) I can unless it’s too late
Anyway, I brought the little green worm back to the garden and placed him gently back on a stalk of Kale
Sometime later…
Maybe, days
Could be a week or so
I saw this beautiful little butterfly flying around about twenty feet in front of me and closing in fast when I went out the side door of my garage
It was a light yellow small butterfly flying happily between the garage and the trash cans and garden
Amazingly, in no time, the little guy flew right at me and landed on my shirt and stayed there
He wouldn’t move
I was touched
It was like he or she trusted me
It was like it knew I was coming and was seeking me out
Then, the thought hit me
Could it be that same little green worm I saved?
It’s possible, I was thinking
A few minutes later, I gently picked him up off my shirt by his two wings and walked over and put him carefully on a Kale stalk
He stayed where I put him
Then, I went on with my business in the yard
Every time I came out to my garden in the Summer, I would see a butterfly fluttering around in that part of the garden
for days, even weeks I would see a butterfly on that particular kale stalk
Was it that same one I saved?
How I love the little green worms, the lizards, the birds like the Blue Jay and Mockingbird who seem to fight for dominance over the bird bath, the hummingbirds in which I keep their glass bottle full of red nutritious liquid hung up high on a hook on my patio, and neighbor’s cats that visit and poop in my garden (I can tell where they dug) and of course, the two Doves on the wall on the other side of the house in back
Of course, these would be all relatively small happenings and occurrences to someone else
But, it’s not a small insignificant happening to me
It is important to me
It has a deeper meaning hidden
It brings me great joy
And, Purpose
to think I’d saved a life
And, that I seem to have the ability now to sense when a small butterfly is showing gratitude, love, and trust
I really do pick those kinds of vibes up
Really
I wouldn’t say that unless it were true
All this may not matter in the scheme of things
Although, I’m sure there’s some asshole somewhere in the world who would have no trouble smashing that beautiful innocent harmless butterfly with his stupid fat foot and think it was funny and laugh his idiotic head off…
But, the little worm matters to me
The Butterfly matters to me
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I have grown to have a reverence for all living things no matter how small and insignificant the world sees them to be
I hear their wordless words
I hear them clearly
Because, at this time of my life, I am listening with everything I have
Now…
Everything SMALL matters to me
