Who Am I?

I am a lover of love and peace. I have a cute fabric purse that has Peace and Love on it with the obligatory peace symbol. My clients tell me, "That purse is so you, Cheryl".

My husband, Sid, will frequently call me when we're home, "Okay, Cheryl, you've got 5 min. if you want to rescue this spider." I rush in from whatever I was doing, armed with a tissue, gently pick up the spider so that all 6 legs are intact, carry him to the door & wish him well on his new home outside. Now, if the truth were told, I would be perfectly okay with leaving spiders in the house, assigning a corner & appropriate name to each one. But, since I choose to live with Sid, that is not a viable option.

I am a tree hugger. (If you put your ear up to the deeply furrowed bark of a cottonwood or oak tree, and spread your arms as far as possible around the trunk, you will be amazed at what you hear and feel.)

I cry whenever any unfortunate creature is hurt on tv or in a movie.

I recoil from any signs of aggression or violence. I believe that we should do our best to live and let live.

On a trip to Virginia a few yrs ago with Sid we came upon a lovely pine tree with a thick vine that had a strangle hold on it. It was wrapped over, under and all around the poor tree. Sid & I spent almost an hr. unraveling the vine, saving the pine tree.

I tromp through the snow on my deck to fill the bird feeder so that my feathered friends will have full tummies.

I rescue worms who have been washed out of the soil in a hard downpour & are stranded on now dry sidewalk. I pick them up & carry them over to the grass so that they can once burrow into the ground.

HOWEVER, yesterday, as I was walking past my glorious roses that are enthusiastically growing outside my office window, I spotted an enemy! There to my disbelieving eyes were Japanese beetles, at least 10 deep chowing down on my once beautiful roses. The leaves are now totally riddled with holes. I ran back into my office, cranked up my computer & googled "how to destroy Japanese beetles". Armed with a plan, I then found a tall coffee cup, filled it with hot water & liquid hand soap from the ladies' room, tore out the door into the 98 degree heat, feeling like a soldier in Iraq, & began knocking, grabbing, dunking beetles by the handful into the coffee cup. When it was full, I proudly strode into my office which is next to Sid's office. I asked him if he wanted to see what I had caught in my coffee cup. He wisely said, "Not really", then curiosity got the better of him & he peered into the vessel. There he saw a crawling pile of drowning Japanese beetles. A look of horror came over his face. "Who are you?", he said with dismay. "They look like they're suffering & in agony." "So?", I replied.

Slowly I began to feel a little remorse. What have I done? They're only trying to make a living the only way Japanese beetles know how. I took the now quiet pile of irridescent corpses out to bury them in the soil not too far from the roses.

As I stood up, I spotted another pile of Japanese beetles munching away on a formerly glorious rose. Before I knew it, I was tearing back into the ladies' room to get more hot soapy water.

I guess we all have parts of ourselves that don't seem to match who we like to think we are. I have decided to accept all of these parts of me. How about you?