[blockquote source=”Katherine, Under the Tuscan Sun”]When I was a little girl, I used to run around in the fields all day, trying unsuccessfully to catch ladybugs. Finally I would get tired and lay down for a nap. When I awoke, I’d find ladybugs walking all over me.[/blockquote]

A ladybug came to visit me the other day, and donning her very best, crisply pressed red winter cloak. She was there to whisper her longings for spring, and the hopes that the ‘green’ might last forever.

When I was a little girl, I used to wait all winter long for their arrival. With many a day spent ‘nose pressed firmly to frost-covered glass’, in a painstaking search for that first flash of color.

Why, I’ll bet even to this day with the sun’s light cast just the right way…you might still see the well-worn nose print of my curiosity.

And, a most curious child I was…forever contemplating these subtleties of spring, and the deeper meaning of all changes to come.

I mean, just imagine something so small with the capacity to carry so very much hope. Quite incredible, now isn’t it?

Oh, and didn’t I fashion so many of the silliest superstitions? My favorite being, “a wish for every dot.”

And, so each year, I would carry around my little spiral bound notebook – in hopes to capture the details of those so very much in need.

My brother only once made the list, and following an exhaustive nasal reconstruction surgery (the circumstances of which were never fully proven.)

By spring’s arrival, I had a full list of wishes – pages overflowing, and carefully structured as to ‘need’ and ‘priority.’

And, fearing not nearly enough ‘dots’ to go around…I’d scramble those fields in a desperate flurry…

Inevitably, I’d flop to the ground…with face, flushed fiery red…and tiny muscles completely expended of any last energy stores.

I always seemed to come up empty-handed, and in spite of having only the very best of intentions. Catching ladybugs is not for the feint of heart, one must hold onto hope with everything you’ve got.

Even when you do find yourself laying face up in a field, sweat and dust stinging at your every pore.

Catching ladybugs can be an awfully tricky business – as we learn, that stillness is the only thing that will bring a ladybug ‘home.’

Perhaps, this was the message my little ladybug visitor was so eager to share…

A reminder that Happiness catches us only when we’ve learned to slow down.