I am the girl...

      I was the girl who stopped roller skating with friends around the driveway and laid herself down to protect the caterpillar who was inching his way over to the grass. And I would stop whatever I was doing to watch the long line of large red ants march back to their anthill. They followed each other like soldiers carrying leaves 50 times bigger than their bodies. I was mesmerized watching them..  

     I was the girl who abandoned her fishing pole if a dragonfly landed nearby, and was always shocked that no one else was beside me as I followed it down the dock and stopped each time it landed to see it's stunning neon beauty. 

     And I was the neighborhood girl who caught the toads. I figured out exactly how to pick them up so they didn't pee on you.

     I was the girl who loved the sound of crickets so much that it became my ringtone. 

     When I was little, I was the girl who sat on the floor by the screen door at night while June bugs buzzed outside in the light. They were noisy, and often crashed into the screen. I remember the warm summer breeze coming through from outside, and their arrival on the porch always made summer absolute for me. We had a thing, me and the June bugs, it felt a little like we were old friends who hadn't seen each other in awhile. 

     And now, I am the woman, no longer a girl, who is well aware that when I sit down in front of Orangutan cages at the zoo, and start talking to them, that other people do not do this. But the conversation I had with a little Bonobo in San Diego zoo was nothing short of a marvel. Here's what happened. 

     I stood outside the Bonobo cage peeling an orange for Chandler who was in the stroller beside me, when suddenly a little guy appeared right up against the other side of the plexiglass. The little monkey was watching me. The partition went up about 7 feet, and then opened up to a barb wire enclosure. Inside, Bonobos played on ropes, jumped on and off a shipwreck, and chased each other around like children. But this little guy wanted something else. 

     He banged on his chest and pointed.  "Look at him, Chandler, " I said, "He pointing to the orange! He wants your fruit." 

     I called out to the rest of the family to come back and see this because they had already moved on. Now, the Bonobo was showing me exactly what he wanted me to do. He pointed to the orange, then up to the opening just above the glass. He then made a throwing motion with his arm and banged his hands against his chest again. "Come see this you guys!" I hollered again. "You wont believe this."

     By the time Michael returned, the monkey had made it very clear. Throw me the orange. Just toss it over the glass into our cage. 

     "Can you believe he's so smart?" I said to Michael, "Watch him." The bonobo showed us again what he wanted me to do. 

     "Mom, the sign right there says clearly not to feed the monkeys," Michael said. "Don't do it." 

     "But he's so smart and so darling. He just wants an orange." 

     Michael pulled me away that day, and I did not throw him the orange, but boy did I want to. And I couldn't help but smile wondering how many times that smart little guy got his way. 

      And I am the now the woman who is well aware that no one else parks beside the road when I pull over to talk to the baby cows by the fence on my way home. But the furry winter calves eventually come to me. They know my voice and my car. I believe they somehow know that their darlingness fills me with joy because my creator is also their creator.  

     I am also now the woman who waits at the railing calling to the sleeping bear. "Hey Bear. Wake up. Come see me." And I'm the woman still there, 7 minutes later, when he wakes up and does. 

     I know that I'm different than other people when it comes to creation. But I also know that God made me exactly this way for His purpose and my joy.

      I have always been awestruck by not only the majestic, but also by marching ants and lady bugs, and praying mantis, and I believe God put something in me that allows my spirit the freedom to marvel at things other people never even notice. 

     And lastly...

     I was the girl who sat on the floor right in front of the TV every time, "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau," came on. The Whales. For me it was all about the whales. I could never get enough of them. So I want to close this story by sharing this...

     I am the woman who God placed on a boat off the coast of, Monterey Ca. I am the woman who got a seat right next to the water with the help of her husband, and I am the woman so greatly loved by the Creator of the Universe, that He sent me a stunning Humpback. She was covered with barnacles, and when her darling baby surfaced beside her, I thought I might die. 

     They swam right beside me, alongside of the boat, for quite awhile and I wept. They were stunning. And before they dove and swam away, that Mama and this Mama had a moment. Her gorgeous, bowling ball sized, dark grey eye, came out of the water and looked into mine. in that moment we were there, together with our creator and it was magic. 

     So if you ever see me at a bear cage, or parked by the side of the road, you might want to join me for a moment of fabulous... because...

     I am that woman

     And thank you again Lord, because...

     I too, will always be that girl.