All Things Small

also titled: It's the Theme of Our Summer... and I Don't Have to Like It!

What do a tall jar, a mesh cage, a glass bowl, a matchbox, and cupped hands have in common?

Why, they have all played home to Maddie's summer menagerie, of course!

I imagine her love of all creepy, crawly creatures stems from a different motivation than a boy's. She has a tenderness in her heart for all things small and wants to care for them. The summer breezes have lured the children outside often in the past weeks and it is a rare day that Maddie does not adopt someone (not something, mind you, as they all have feelings and personalities!). Maddie has played host to a pair of lightning bugs, a beetle, six frogs (friends, she says), a moth...worms, who got out in the house and were found under the window...slugs, who got out in the house and have not been found...a pill bug. She is anxiously waiting for the summer crop of swallowtail caterpillars to arrive on the bushes so she can choose one to raise into butterfly-hood as she did last year.

Alas. Death accompanies life and my compassionate one has experienced many heartaches, the most recent being the sudden death of her beloved pet fish.

Tender hearts are not easily comforted.

Kristin