I had an Alice-in-Wonderland day in the most nerdy way possible today. No, I wasn’t using drugs to have out of body experiences. But rather I had 3 strange and close encounters with bugs. In the morning, I was finishing the last sips of my coffee, expresso, oatmilk concoction and carefully taking small strategic bites of a hard boiled egg so as not to leave egg yolk crumbs on the table. My husband walks into the kitchen after he comes home from dropping one kid off at school. He greets me with “Stay still!

I quickly set my mug and egg down on the counter top, let out a small scream, and took step back. “What?” I asked.

“You don’t see it?” he teased.

I looked around again and saw a small spider slowly lowering itself from the ceiling to our island counter. I grabbed a tissue and squashed it as soon as it landed. I waved the tissue in the air in a circular motion to gather any lingering webs. That was the end of that encounter and I quickly finished my breakfast, got the other two kids ready for school, and went to work – where I would meet the next tiny creature.

I was sitting at my desk, talking on speaker mode to our office therapist about two patients I was referring to her. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a little black dot zoom onto the perforated sleeve of my soft purple sweater. I apologized to the therapist and investigated my arm. Upon not seeing anything, I proceeded with our conversation for another minute. And then I hear… Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz. It’s coming from my sleeve. I let out a bigger scream – I can hear a nurse mocking me from another work station, but no one seems to be running over to check on me. I hang up with the therapist, excusing myself because now I think I have a fly in my sleeve.

Stand up.

Frantically remove sweater (I have a tank top underneath).

Shake out sweater.

The fly falls out onto the floor, crawls around a little bit in the space under the door, and then flies off.

I take that as a sign that I, too, should fly off as well – as in drive home. It had been a productive day. Whatever tasks are still looming can wait until tomorrow. Plus, I had ordered enough things on Amazon Prime to reach the threshold for same day shipping, so I was eager to open up the boxes.

At home, I check the front door and see two packages, each wrapped in a white bag with a neatly folded over flap with linear perforations for easy opening. I bring in one box, but there’s something on the second package, a brown lump interrupting the white smooth lining. I look closer. A slug. I can see it glide and stretch, I can see the 4 protrusions from its head – are they antennas or eyes?

How do I get it off the package? I’m certainly not going to willingly bring in a slug into the house, even if temporarily. It’s sticky right? I don’t have a nearby bush with a branch I can break off to remove the slug. And I’d rather not use something from home to remove it, and then bring the object with slug goo on it, even if it’s to move it straight into the trashcan. What do I do, which way do I go with this?

I call in reinforcements for this one. My kids come over to investigate. My husband shakes and taps the package a couple times and the slug falls off onto the front porch step. I guess the smooth package surface wasn’t much for the slug to hold onto. I stayed a while longer with my kids to watch the slug a few more minutes gliding across the stone step.

What these 3 creatures have in common is that they made me pause. And watch. And here I am writing about them. One tiny life form, probably wouldn’t have made me think too much. Two tiny life forms, maybe I would think – well, that’s interesting. But three tiny life forms in one days? Now that, is a pattern. What is life trying to tell me? Be more mindful. Notice my surroundings. And be brave. The little critters that can be frightful are just minding their own business, and they are not as fearsome as I make them out to be in my brain. What else could be less scary than my brain is imagining?

What could you notice more in life and give gratitude for? What are you trying to be more brave for?