Tuesday, June 5, 2007

June Bugs




When I was little I loved the June bug, he was my all time favorite bug. He was red with a hard shell and little feet that tickled as he would crawl around on my hand. And unlike the roly poly and the doodle bug, he was fairly durable. I would watch and wait with great anticipation every spring for his appearance.







I would gather several June Bugs into my hand and then transfer them into a paper cup or other container. They were amazing little creatures. They would spend hours crawling around the bottom of the container, crawling over each other or trying to climb up the steep sides only to fall back down into the bottom to start all over again.



After enjoying them myself I would always share them with my dear sweet sister, Melinda. I would walk up and say, “Melinda, look what I found.” As she would crane her neck to look into my hand, I would open it oh so slowly. Shrieks would escape from her lips that were delightful. She would somehow go from sitting on the floor to a dead run in a matter of seconds and screaming “Momma” at the top of her voice. Usually after several minutes had passed and several shrill shrieks had split the air Momma would eventually say, “Monalea, stop!”


Momma would sometime give me a lecture on ‘chasing with bug.’ I would listen intently stifling the smiles that would eventually escape in the form of twinklings in my eyes. Only if you looked closely could you see the mirth oozing from every pour of my body.



Sometimes after the scolding’s I would sit just near enough to Melinda with my wonderful bugs in hand and smile deviously at her. She would screw up her mouth and wrinkle her nose in my direction and say, “You’d better not!” That only made the temptation greater and then we would be off again her running, me chasing through the house. Life was good!



Chasing Melinda with bugs became a yearly sporting event like football or baseball. I never had to run to catch up with her, just her knowing I was somewhere back there was enough. I would sometimes take a detour, wait a few minutes and then begin the chase again with new screams and venomous threats escaping from her mouth. I wasn’t too frightened, she was 8 and I was 6.

Forty-two years have past since those long ago times of childhood antics. I still tease and harass my beautiful sister every chance I get, she will attest to this.

I Peter 4:8
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

8 comments:

Matt said...

June Bugs are probably not on my top ten favorite bugs list, monalea you are one of a kind. I do however love chasing siblings around, that is too much fun. Have a blessed day.

matt

Neva said...

Monalea,
You would have gotten along great with my brother. When I was younger, I loved to read and I wore glasses for reading. My brother would catch bugs (usually moths--we called them millers) and sneak up behind me while I was reading and drop a life bug between my glasses and my eye---then he would be all fake penitent when my mom came running to see why I was shrieking and throwing my glasses on the floor. ugggh
Younger siblings, never boring.
:)
Peace
Neva

Anonymous said...

Ugh! I do NOT like june bugs at all!! Yuck! I can handle a ladybug and that's about it. Neva, that would absolutely KILL me if someone did that to me! Yikes!

The Preacher's Household: said...

Yuck to june bugs! Yeh to torturing sisters!
Kathy

Anonymous said...

The B-52's did a song about June Bugs, called "Junebug". You must hear it if you haven't yet.

Monalea said...

Matt, thank your for your kind words.

Neva, I laughed out loud about the 'fake penitent' from your brother.

Lisa, I'm sorry you miss out on wonderful bugs.

Kathy, Torturing Sib's is great!

David from Frogtown, I have not heard the song. Will have to look it up on the www.

The Preacher's Household: said...

This post 'bugs' me even more than the one about the dark and being afraid of robbers.
t Giggle

Monalea said...

Kathy, you are beginning to 'bug' me. NOT! Love you 2-3-6

Monalea