Last week my oldest daughter celebrated her 13th birthday – how is it possible that I am a mom to a teenager? I have no idea…
Living the RV life, that means no friends/parties/etc. (and I guess covid probably still impacts that for non-RV'ers), so we let her plan the day. It was wonderful – she and I had some quality time, then we built a big ol' campfire ate McDonalds and followed it up with ice cream (cause my teen doesn't like cake). It was not a traditional birthday – but she was truly happy… for a while.
Sitting by the fire she felt something hit the back of her neck. Sitting under a tree, she looked up and thought it might be a bug of some sort. Dad didn't see anything in the light of the fire, but she felt it. It itched.
The next few hours were terrifying and traumatic.
The culprit was a caterpillar – a tiny yellow fuzzy thing. Any other day we'd probably see it walking across a leaf and say “aww, how cute!“
But those fuzzy hairs are barbed like wire and stick to the skin breaking off from the caterpillar and releasing a toxin that in small doses causing itching and burning at the point of contact.
The problem in K's case, was it got stuck in her hoodie, lodged between her back and her sweater rolling around as she wiggled trying to dislodge the unknown intruder.
It was not until she came in the RV to take off that hoodie that we saw the caterpillar drop to the floor – tattered and nearly hairless now.
For over an hour she got progressively worse – more and more pain and suffering. We tried everything we could from home before rushing her to the ER where she started having convulsions along with the pain which was now coming in waves.
She suffered like that for hours – into the wee hours of the morning.
Thankfully, she is okay now – totally back to normal and we even say around the same campfire again last night without fear.
As I reflect back on such a freak accident and the resulting experiences we endured, every single person we spoke to at the hospital was shocked that what they were witnessing – my daughters medical reaction – was the result of a cute little yellow fuzzy caterpillar.
A cute little yellow fuzzy caterpillar with a natural defense mechanism meant to protect it from birds, was strong enough to debilitate a strong and healthy teenager.
How many times in your life have you faced skeptics?
Maybe even inside your own head…
People who look at your ideas, dreams, or goals and tell you they're too big.
Who are you to do such big amazing things?
My friend, you are no different than that cute little yellow fuzzy caterpillar.
Even if on the surface you don't look “the part.”
Even if others “like you” aren't making the same moves.
YOU have what it takes to make a HUGE impact.
(but, unlike the caterpillar, you'll make a positive one!)
Sometimes you just have to jump… and trust the journey.