Lesson from Woolly Worms

I think the woolly worm is my favorite worm of all.   (Okay, typing that statement is weird!)

I am thinking about the woolly worm because I have seen so many lately.  My husband, Paul, and I like to ride bikes.  We have a certain route we take when our time is limited and on that route I notice things as I ride.  I notice crickets and grasshoppers, drying corn in the fields, the color of the leaves on the trees on the mountainside, the traffic (or lack thereof) on the route, the eggplant field and so much more.  But what has amazed me of late are the  woolly worms that have crossed my path on that route. 

Now, as a kid, when encountering a woolly worm, I would hold it and pet the spiky "fur" (or whatever it is called) and especially take notice of the color of the worm.  I have been told that a total black woolly worm means a cold harsh winter with lots of snow.  Brown woolly worms forecast a warmer, mild winter.  Woolly worms that are brown and black forecast an early cold or a mid-season warm and then a cool down again -- or the opposite depending upon where the black and brown are on the worm.

I must say, that the worms I have seen on the last few bike rides have blown my childhood weather forecasting basis right out of the water!  I have seen on the same ride one black woolly  worm, one brown woolly worm and at least one brown/black combo woolly worm.    HOW CAN THAT BE????

As I was riding along today thinking about this, I decided that there was a message for me in the woolly worms I had seen.  That message was that no one can forecast the future.   We might have indicators from nature about the weather (red sky at night sailor's delight/ red sky in the morning, sailor's warning), feel a cold coming on, but when you look into the future -- each day brings what it will bring and no one really knows what is coming next. 

What does that mean to me?  Live today in the moment.  Enjoy each moment.  Don't look for forecasts for this or that in life -- signs or woolly worms to tell me what is coming;  but get up, look at the sky and enjoy the sun/rain/clouds/fog/snow -- or whatever it might bring.  Get up in the morning and hug my husband and kids, tell them I love them -- and look forward to the adventure each day brings - come what may.