The riddle of a bug on a veranda.
It’s easy to dismiss small things as coincidence or no-coincidence but to do is to miss out on the fun of solving a riddle. Is your riddle radar on? Let’s fire up that radar!
A client commented on my blog, “I kind of think it’s called another dimension when mysterious things keep getting mixed up in our daily life.”
It’s true, I’m neither a.m. nor p.m., I spend my time in the i.m., and mysterious things are mixing into my daily life. And I feel in harmony with the universe. Everything you see is a message.
The day after I came back from the Kyushu seminar, an insect that looked like a dead leaf was stuck on the Ivy on my veranda. I thought it would eventually fly away, but a few hours later it was still there. I looked closely at the insect through the window and saw that it was shaped like a stink bug. Oh well, it will go away eventually. I decided to leave it alone.
I thought I hadn’t seen it for a few days, but then one day it was back on the screen door. Scared, I slid the screen door open and tried to keep it out of sight at least. Then I finally decided to google the name. There it was! They say it’s called a “magpie stink bug”. In autumn, they attach themselves to laundry that is hung out to dry and give off a strange smell. Moreover, I found out that they don’t move much. I’ve had it on my veranda for three weeks. Is it cozy?
And I am going on a business trip to Hokkaido for two days and one night. I hoped it would go somewhere in the meantime… I sprayed the screen door with an aroma that insects don’t like and left the house.
The next night I came home, opened the curtains with fear, and it was still on the screen door! I can’t believe he stayed still for two days… I’m not good with insects, so I’ll have to call the flat maintenance man.
The next morning, a client came from Nagoya for a face-to-face session. She was in the middle of a break from work and started to do gardening in the meantime. I thought she’s probably encountered a stink bug, so, I spoke to her.
“There’s been a stink bug on my veranda for nearly three weeks and I can’t catch it because I’m not very good with bugs. Today it was on the Ivy, so I hung the tip of the Ivy outside the balcony frame and said I’m waiting for it to fly away. Perhaps you could capture it for me?”
“Yes, if you have plastic gloves!”
“Quintessential Gardener!”
I handed her a plastic glove. She easily caught it from on the Ivy, waved her hands in the air, said, “Bye-bye!” and released him into the sky, which must have taken him by surprise after three weeks of only knowing the world of his little veranda!
Then her session began. It’s her “Time to say goodbye” too. Time to leave the past in the past and try something new. It seemed as if the words she said to the insects at the beginning of the session, “bye-bye”, was a word to herself.
Coincidentally, the day before, I sang “Time to say goodbye” at the Hokkaido Seminar. For nearly three weeks, the bug must have been waiting for her visit. A sign from the universe.
She helped the bug to fly away and I helped her to fly away into the unknown. And now, for the first time in a long time, I am writing this newsletter with the veranda window wide open, looking out at the clear autumn sky. “The cold never bothered me anyway. “♪