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| Ladybugs are great for the garden! |
In the past few weeks, there seems to have been an explosion of ladybugs on my sliding glass door. I know this sometimes happens in the fall, or on Indian summer days in fall. It's like the little eggs hatch and they take over. I don't remember it being so prominent as it seems to have been this year, however.
Ladybugs also make me smile. They remind me of my grandmother. Her house must have had a ladybug infestation, because they always seemed to have swarms of them at certain times of the year. When I see a ladybug, I can't help but think of my Gram and thinking it is a sign from her. I can't kill them. If they are inside, I gently get it outside as fast as possible.
Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks ladybugs are a sign from above. I was reading a post on SuperTy.org (I can't stop thinking about that poor little boy losing his fight with cancer! I even wrote a Yahoo! Voices article about it.) where his mother says after she returned from the crematorium the day after his death, she found ladybugs all over her sliding glass door and considered it a sign from above. In her post, she said she researched about ladybugs and found so many interesting little facts about them. Like how they are dedicated to the Virgin Mary as the "beetle of our lady" and they hold a special link to mothers.
Reading this was poignant to me as I consider them a link to my grandmother. Her name was Mary, and she was very religious, so the Virgin Mary connection to my grandmother is also important and relevant to me. And the link to mothers is also an interesting little link to something that happened to me.
When I was at the end of my pregnancy with the twins -- 37 weeks, to be exact -- I went to the doctor and they were concerned about my fluid levels and sent me to the hospital for yet another ultrasound and test. I had so many ultrasounds and so many tests during my twin pregnancy and I had been at the hospital many, many times. However, this time I knew, in my head, that all could not be right and it might be time for them to come out! It was an icy December day, and while I was sitting in that waiting room in the hospital to be called to have my ultrasound, I saw a ladybug crawling up the wall right next to me! On a freezing cold December day! It was the oddest thing, and I totally thought it was a sign from my grandmother. I knew right then and there, whatever that ultrasound revealed, that the babies were coming that very day. And they did. And it was fine. And I knew it was my grandmother's little way of telling me that.
I sometimes think people "stretch" the sign thing a bit too far, where every tiny thing is a sign from above. It's nice and comforting to believe that, but perhaps I am too cynical or practical in that regard. That said, there are certain times when I really believe in signs. Not every ladybug moment is a sign, but always a reminder. That day in the hospital, it was not only a reminder, but a sign.
I don't collect ladybug items, but I love jewelry with meaning. I think I might put this on my holiday wishlist:
It's very sweet, isn't it? And a nice reminder to wear around my wrist. Do you believe in signs or symbols?
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