With the 4th of July comes hot weather, fireworks, swimming pools, hot dogs and just every now and then a miracle...

My four year old daughter is a collector of things and one to turn a piece of trash into a treasure. She can put an irreplaceable value on the most mundane object or make you believe that a tiny bead is the lost Jewel of the Nile.

Recently this inquisitive daughter of ours went on a sleep-over to one of her very close friends. A friend that has a very peculiar pet. This friend has a dead June bug that she feeds and talks to every day. She takes it food and makes sure it has been resting nicely out in the flower bed. Well, this was an inspiration to our daughter! Only she now needed her own dead bug to love and to cherish.

When she arrived home she came running into my studio with a pink cup (the only color in the universe according to her). Inside that plastic, tattered old cup was her new pet, one dead roly-poly. She proudly announce that she had named her little dead doodle bug Lolly Pop.

For a couple of days she was on a mission to comfort and bring joy to the tiny dead bug. She fed it a Starburst candy and put the covered cup outside for Lolly Pop to get some fresh air. We of course played along with her fantasy and talked to Lolly Pop and would help make sure Lolly Pop was still inside the cup.

On the night of the 4th, Lolly Pop was given the special privilege of attending our cookout with several couples and their children. During the evening little Lolly Pop was carried from room to room so that she could enjoy the festivities from her special little cup. I was even requested to turn Lolly Pop over at one point because she just kept laying there on her back. As I flipped Lolly over there was no doubt in my mind that she was well past room temperature and very dead.

As the evening came to a close and we were all giving our good-byes an accident occurred and the pink cup was knocked from our daughters hand. Like a slow motion movie I watched in horror as Lolly and the cup now full of dirt, leaves and twigs hit the floor. The mess went everywhere and our four year old let out a scream crying for poor Lolly. We quickly secured the area and began sifting through the dirt and mess on the floor.

As it started to become apparent that Lolly was not going to be found I overheard the kids talking about a prior spill downstairs and began to think that Lolly had been lost during that spill. My daughter was crying and pleading for everyone to find Lolly. Then it happened, a miracle like no other, something I would not have believed had I not seen it with my own two eyes. There, about one foot away, was Lolly Pop on her back with legs kicking. Yes, legs kicking, this roly-poly was ALIVE!!

They say my mouth dropped and my eye bugged out because as sure as I'm typing this I just knew that bug had been dead for the last two days. My daughter screamed with delight and snatched up Lolly along with all of the other mess from the floor. The world had been set right, my daughter had her bug and I had seen a miracle.

As most of the people filed out of the house a conversation sprang up about what had just happened. I reiterated the fact that the roly-poly had been dead only an hour before. It was then that our friend, the veterinarian, announced that during the confusion he had run outside and unbelievably stumbled upon a larger but live roly-poly. He quickly brought it back inside and tossed it near the mess on the floor.

I was in awe. I couldn't believe how quickly he went into action and saved the day. My daughter really had no clue but she did mention that Lolly had gained a little weight. It's a joy to observe the imagination of children, but also a joy to see the creativity of great friends.

Labels: Daughters, Fun Events, funny moment