THANKFUL FRIDAY

Weeks ago, Michael discovered a woolly bear caterpillar on the rug outside our garage door. I don’t know how the little guy never got stepped on or froze to death, but when we found him there was a thick layer of snow on the ground outside. So, we didn’t want to just toss him out into that kind of weather. Michael scooped him up into a mason jar and I named him Harry Styles, for obvious reasons. Not long after we saved him, the Cabbage was with us. She was sitting at the coffee table, eating dinner, when Michael asked me how Harry Styles was doing. The Cabbage sat up straight and exclaimed “Something’s happened to Harry Styles?!?” in a panicked voice. I quickly reassured her that the real Harry Styles was fine and then I explained that we had named our new pet after the famous (cute) pop star.

And he/she really has become our new pet.

This week, Michael carefully extracted Harry from his jar so that he could transfer the woolly bear to new a clean jar filled with kale and spinach. This is something we do once or twice a week. Every time one of us does this, we are amazed that Harry is still alive and well. Neither one of us have any skills in caterpillar husbandry. From internet research, we know not to fill the bottom of the jar with water. A misting of water every day is great. We have learned by watching that Harry prefers the stems of the spinach to the actual leaf. Michael had provided him with a stick so that he can form a chrysalis and eventually make his transition into an Isabella Tiger moth. By the time all of that happens, it should be warm enough outside to release him back out into the wild. Somehow, between the two of us, we have managed to keep this little guy alive.

This feels like a miracle, but I don’t know why. We have managed to keep several living creatures alive. We bought four chickens instead of three because I was worried one would die. All four chickens are happy and healthy. There have been days when I didn’t feed the Cabbage because she never asked for food. She’s still alive. The cat, for goodness sake, is surprisingly still with us. Josephine’s the only one in the house who I am not surprised is still happy and healthy. She is the most well cared for creature in this house. Pretty much every day, I will cradle Josephine’s head in my hands, look her in the eyes and sing I Honestly Love You to her as I am sure every dog owner does with their dogs. Maybe what makes Harry Styles the Caterpillar a miracle is that he exists at all. He made it through the dog door and into our garage during a snowstorm. That in itself is miraculous.

We are surrounded with tiny miracles. The scientific explanations for those tiny miracles only enhances my feelings of amazement for them. Beck isn’t wrong when he sings “It’s like wow!” because it truly is ‘like wow!’