Strength Grasshopper

Yesterday I had some errands to run before work, so I took off in my Honda for the mall. On the way I rolled down the window and discovered a grasshopper clinging to the glass. Instead of sending him flying I let him hang out. Left the window partway up, and watched his antennae wave in the wind.

I stopped at the mall, did my returns and then headed to work. Grasshopper still on my window. On the highway he seemed a lot like a dog, hanging its head out the window. He clung to the window wind flowing over him (I was going 60 miles an hour). Ten minutes later I got to work, parked in my normal spot and rolled the window up. Grasshopper still there.

I stared at him for a minute, wondering at his resolve. Not that work is a great place to be, but he made it there, and surrounding the building is a huge wetland. How he knew that was where I was headed, I dunno. But I got out of the car, turned, and he was gone. Vanished. Probably off to find some grasshopper pal to start a family with.

What a way to learn about persistence right? Everyday we look at the hard stuff in life and think gosh if I just gave up, things would be so much easier. But would they? If the grasshopper had given up he would have wound up as a splatter on someone's windshield. By hanging with it he got to a new place filled with more good things.

I heard this week my second novel has been accepted, showing that the thirty years of persistence in writing is getting me places that I'd like to go. So no matter what's going on, I know giving up is not the way. I need to have strength like that little grasshopper.