Small Praying...

Another noon-time walk took me down the driveway to retrieve the mail today. As I strolled back up the gravel car path toward the house, a little green object caught my eye and stopped me in mid-step. With that step, it's little triangular head cocked up at me. It was a praying mantis.

For the first time a few days ago, I noticed the little critters on our property. Despite living here for more than a year, this was the first time. Now, they seem to pop up frequently. The one I saw today caught my heart though. It really seemed to be aware of me. It studied me as I studied it. I bent my knees so I could be close to it and stretched my arm to temp it onto my hand. It curiously took a few steps, front legs probing as if testing the water before he jumped in, and crawled onto my hand. I eyed it and let it journey on one hand and the other, only to soon set it down.

I'm studying geology. Why? Because rocks aren't as crazy as the biological world. I actually went out of my way to avoid the life sciences during high school. So why did this little mantis push my curiosity button? It was that little cock of his head. I just felt that it was intelligent enough to question whether or not that last footstep I took would come down on him.

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