Don’t Pet the Small Stuff!

I took my grandson for a walk in the park as I often do. After feeding the ducks, geese, 1 sparrow and a couple of seagulls three stacks of Saltines, we moved along to the shady path. Here we continued our journey. It’s always nice to point out some things we may not have noticed on our previous walk. In looking about, it seems that the things previously not noticed have a way of finding us.

As we paused by the swing set we found a cute little toad hopping by. We just happened to have our bug collecting kit on us, bug sleuths that we are. As we gently scoffed him (her?) up, we thought we should bond by giving it a name. My grandson named him Blondie to my surprise. For the next hour we were bosom buddies. I hope Blondie enjoyed the bumpy ride. To continue our nature walk, we practiced all the sounds of nature that crossed our paths. Our calls of the wild consisted of a catbird, cicada, bullfrog, duck, seagull, dancing like waterbugs, goose steppin’ over goose poop, flying like dragonflies and kissing like fishes. Not a bad repertoire for a short walk in the park. Blondie had no comment…the silent type.

Upon turning a corner we came across a family walking all holding large coffee cups from their favorite coffee emporium. As we passed they proceeded to show us their great finds of frogs, fish and a turtle. It’s amazing how quickly kids will strike up a conversation about their adventures & nature finds. As we proceeded to show off our prized toad they insisted we have some of their critters so Blondie wouldn’t be lonely! It was so generous of them to want to share. It took a bit of convincing that Blondie didn’t need any friends as she would be returning home very shortly…. but ‘thank you anyway’.

Upon that note, my grandson welled up with tears, as he wanted to take Blondie home. A quick ‘good bye’ to our passing family with critters led us to come and sit on a rock for our farewell to Blondie. It took some convincing but Blondie had come to a great drop off glen. I needed to have him make a quick and final decision thus preventing a tantrum and or postponing our departure, as I needed a nap more than he did. He agreed to let Blondie go with the saddest face. As I tried to redirect his sadness I said ‘How about giving that tree a hug goodbye’, thinking he would think it was a silly request. He immediately ran to the tree and gave it a big, long hug. As he started to leave he returned for a kiss goodbye. I asked if I could have a picture of him & the tree & he waved me away. The parting was overwhelming for both of us.

A few moments later, trying to lighten the emotions, I started chitchatting, explaining that we must wash the bug catcher when we get home. He nodded & looked inside. ‘What’s that?’ ‘Toad poop, I guess.’ He roared laughing, lifting my spirits. He then recalled all the ‘poop’ mishaps along the way. ‘Poop happens’ I said with memories of Shrek quotes floating in my head. Face it, it’s something we all have in common like it or not! Even toddlers know this. We laughed all the way home. The melancholy disappeared.

Besides the age-old play on words ‘don’t sweat the small stuff’ there’s ‘don’t pet the small stuff. Words to live by. When that is said & done, never underestimate the power of the young heart to embrace nature. It is our true nature after all.

Cathy