This Week in Nature
In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins—not by strength, but by perseverance.~H. Jackson Brown
This week and last have been a little odd. It’s almost October and we have strawberries growing again, flowers sprouting in our front yard out of nowhere, and I accidentally got dog poop on my hand and sat in bird poop within an hour of each other (yah, it was a crappy day…haha). I’m also starting to feel at one with Mother Nature b/c of all the random things I’ve come across recently.
Exhibit A: Trying to get to the parking lot at work but having to wait 4 minutes for these geese to cross the street. I was already late and tried beeping the horn but they took their sweet time.
Exhibit B: The creepy, huge praying mantis I almost put my hand on as I was trying to open the glass door to the parking garage. Ginormous.
Exhibit C: Huge ass mushrooms. Like big enough that if Smurfs were real they could make houses of. Don’t you agree?
Exhibit D: Going to throw something away and having this giant bug staring at me. Not sure what it was but it had no problem smiling for the camera.
Exhibit E: These dead flies that are stuck to the green onions in my garden. So weird and I don’t know what the deal is. On the left there, there were 2 flies stuck together, dead. Maybe the fly version or Romeo and Juliet? I don’t know. But then the tops of a few other onions have dead flies on them, too. Gross.
Exhibit F: Opossum in my back yard. These things are not cute. They look like overgrown rats with their beady eyes and long tails. I’m glad it posed for the camera.
I can’t wait to see all the nature I’m going to experience next week in Hawaii. I was there when I was 7 and I remember the cockroaches were huge and the mosquitoes were even bigger. I also remember hitting a big fish with my foot as I was swimming and swimming in the ocean while it was pouring and seeing a rainbow after. Funny how that’s the stuff I remember as a kid. I’ll be taking lots of pictures when we’re there so you’ll hear all about my trip and see all the glorious nature when I get back. But I’m sure none of my pics will rival this one of me with my brothers in Hawaii below. It’s my favorite picture ever!
Before we head to Hawaii we’re going to my cousin’s wedding. She and her high school sweetheart are getting married. I’m happy for them of course, but it got me wondering about the whole marrying the first and only person you’ve ever loved thing. I mean in theory it’s beautiful and sweet and romantic. But at the same time back when I was in high school, I thought I was “in love” but what do you really know about love at that age? Can you really grow as a person if you’re always growing with the same person through such critical years in your life when you’re supposed to be adventurous and exploring the world and exploring life? Do you become dependent on that person to define you? What do you really know about love until you have new experiences, have your heart broken, break someone else’s heart, kiss different lips, or feel different arms around you? I mean, isn’t part of the fun to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince? Maybe for some people marrying their high school sweetheart works. Deep down I’m a hopeless romantic so I like to believe it does. But it also makes me wonder if you’d ever go through life wondering what else was out there?
What do you think about marrying your high school sweetheart?
Have you had any strange nature encounters lately?
- Posted in: Uncategorized
- Tagged: geese, high school sweetheart, mushroom, nature, opossum, praying mantis
Eek. No thanks to marrying high school sweetheart.
He is a nice guy but not the one for me. I do know MANY who have and it has worked out lovely for them. I’ve just changed so much from the person I was that it would never work.
Oh, and the opossom freaks me out. Even in photos!
Nature really seems to have taken a liking to you! Last week I saw dozens of giant slugs, some of them as long as my hand. So cool!
My mom used to tell me that if a bird pooped on you, it is good luck. So look at it this way, dog AND bird poop….time to buy a lottery ticket.
Wow that sure is a lot of nature!
As for the high school sweetheart thing… I work with teenagers. I frequently remind them that the percentage of high school relationships that end in stable marriages is very very small. Out of all the people I know in the world… I know two couples that got married in high school and have great marriages today. That’s it. This is why I tend to discourage high school relationships.
Hoooowever, with that said, I need to add this: my husband was my first and only boyfriend. I was his first and only girlfriend. I had just turned 17 two weeks before we met and he was 18. We were in college (I was a very young freshman), but we were still technically high school age. We shared every first together and I absolutely love that. After 7 years together there has still never been a time when we have had an identity crisis and questioned our choice to never “play the field”. One doesn’t just fall in and out of love. Love is a choice. You choose to love that person no matter how you feel. That’s what life-time commitment is all about. Christopher and I are in covenant with each other – we made vows to each other and there is no easy “out” or divorce option. So whether I had dated 100 men before my husband or not, I still make that choice every day that he is THE ONE. I love HIM. End of story.
Haha, that’s probably more than you bargained for when you posed that question. I just always find it difficult to balance our personal love story with what we tell teens about dating and relationships so it’s something I think about pretty frequently.
Omg, opossums scare the bejeebus out of me! One time, I almost walked right into one. He freaked out and turned into a statue and then I freaked out because he definitely looks like a huge rat. I ended up running and probably crying.
at least the geese used the crosswalk