Ci-Katie

Sorry for the lack of picture today, but we have a nice, little Katie story to share. We were at a local playground when she noticed a cicada struggling upside-down in the sand. I encouraged her to turn it over and observe for awhile while I tended to Michael. Before I knew it, the "bug whisperer" had the cicada following her, climbing up on her, and basically loving her to bits and pieces. (Too bad that Mom knew it was dying its slow cicada death.) She really wanted to put it back up on its tree, so we took it over and put it back up on a trunk. She watched in amazement as it climbed upwards to its sturdy branch that hung over the playground. She talked to it throughout our stay there. (Yeah, she probably looked like some weird, quirky kid to most by-standers.) When we had to leave, she started to sob uncontrollably. When I asked why, she said that she would "miss it" and she feared that it would die soon. I told her that she gave it one last chance to be with its family and that it would love her forever for it. Unfortunately, we had a 15-minute car ride home, and she bawled through the whole ride. This is why we should not have pets any time soon. Our sweet, sweet empathetic little girl...