A gift from Nature

Nature is continually sending gifts our way.  We hear that all the time.  Yet lately there is so much sad news, gloom and doom, even far too much rain--wet basements, missing shingles and leaking roof, washed out roads.  And of course-here we are so close to Thanksgiving, the traditional family get-together time with so many not having seen family members for close to a year now, whom they won't be seeing this year either.   My sister wrote yesterday that her grown son's birthday is coming up.  He lives in the next state, not terribly far to drive, but they cannot leave their state to visit with him.  My son, also one state (and 3 hours drive time) from me has not been able to come in almost a year.  My daughter who lives only 45 mins. drive away and in the same state is not coming tonight as she usually does on Saturdays for dinner and a movie.  She is a health worker, working daily with the elderly and COVID 19 is  leaping through our county.  The ambulance just left Joseph's Dream with a neighbor on board.  She did not fall.  Maybe she has pneumonia--is having heart problems--maybe she has COVID.  We are all just waiting to hear and wishing her the best.  It is such a hard time for everyone.   The young folks cannot get together and DO things.  Life is so boring.  The old folks cannot go anywhere.  You can only watch so much TV. Whatever happened to Bingo?  The owner of JD is doing a nice thing.  He is having a catered dinner for us this coming thursday.  But we cannot have it in the community room as it is not open during this crisis.  So he is having it delivered in individual containers to each apartment.  Nice gesture.  I will send a thank you note.  Depression is as deep as the fog we experienced for several days this past week.  When we are depressed we fail to notice the lovely things around us.  During the heavy rain one afternoon I watched as Susie studied the bottom of the door to the porch.  I saw her tentatively lift a paw, tap lightly at something, then quickly draw her paw back. Her whiskers were stiff, her tail dusting the floor in slow motion.  Looking closely I spotted a skinny angleworm inching his way from beneath the door.  I always wonder why those worms leave their soil homes to die on the paved walkways in the rain. Why on earth would this one attempt to come inside?  Did he even realize where he was going?  I spoke to the worm, "not a good choice little fellow.  Better head back under the door and out".  Of course I knew it was a worm.  I knew we had no means of communication even if he had that sort of intelligence.  Yet strange as it seems, the front tip of the worm raised up towards me.  If he had eyes I would say he looked at me.  Does he have "ears"?  Did he hear me.  (Yeah-yeah I know).  Susie was not harassing him in any way.  I did not touch him, though I had thought if he continued his way towards the carpet I would pick him up and place him in my large flower pot.  Anyhow, that worm did an about face, wriggling himself back beneath the rubber guard on the bottom of the storm door.  I watched through the window thinking I might have to perform a rescue yet or he would suffer the fate of so many of his kind, dying on the sidewalk.  But Mr. worm continued on his stretch and shrink, reach and shrivel way until he attained his goal--my flowerbed.  There he burrowed into the soft dirt so rapidly that I wondered if I had imagined the whole thing.  

Susie says I did not.