We have to Catalpa trees in our yard! Obviously these trees are fairly rare around here because we often have folks stopping by and asking for the worms off the trees. A Catalpa worm is fat and black with yellow stripes, and are apparently good for fishing! Well...Mason and Adam got the idea to collect all the worms off the tree, put them in a bucket, and advertise them "for sale" on Facebook. They worked long and hard all evening gathering every worm they could possibly reach, pulling them off the leaves and putting them in their bucket. They were so excited, with dreams of all the money they were going to make from selling the worms. They fantasized about what they might do with the money, what they might purchase at "Wal-Mart" (since Wal-Mart is the only store within 2 hours that sells items that little boys would get excited about. So, I advertised the worms on Facebook, 12 worms for $6.00, and we waited for all the orders to pour in, after all, these worms are a rare commodity in these parts. Well, we waited, and we waited...and finally we got an order! Yay! Boys are excited, right! Little entrepreneurs dreaming big dreams. Then the orders ceased! We only got one order for all the Catalpa worms we gathered. :(
As it turns out, even though the boys were a little disappointing, they realized that it really didn't matter, because the real fun and excitement was experienced in the "picking"! We were all outside together, gathering worms, carrying buckets, acting silly and laughing together! Those few exciting minutes spent working together with a a dream of a possibility that may only come through perseverance and ingenuity far outweighed the disappointment of not selling the worms! The memories made together, gathering worms will last forever and you can't put a price on a memory!
I must say, I am so proud of them! Proud of their character! Proud of their compassion! Proud of their imagination! Proud of their perseverance! Proud of their ability to handle disappointment with character and to see the positive things that were gained throughout the process.
Cook Kids....You are Loved more than could ever be expressed!
