the great snail migration

what a lovely night for a walk.

i watched the clouds turn a rainbow of colors as the sun went down. i watched as the headlights came on and started sparkling across the surface of the lake. i stopped to smell a delicious and enormous rose bush (and stuck my face right into a sprawling spider web...). and i sat on the sidewalk (for more time than i will admit) watching snails cross. i believe i have mentioned doing this in a previous post. what can i say. it's like how matt always stops and lets the box turtles cross. i guess i feel a little protective of the little guys or something. they just move so slow in a world that moves so very fast...
there were two left, there had been a third that met an unhappy demise before i arrived. i do not believe it was harmed intentionally, but was simply the victim of a careless or unobservant misstep. like most accidents, really. the other two were only about halfway across the stretch of concrete, and i know that this is precisely the time of night when people are out walking their dogs one final time before bed. so i sat down beside them and waited until they made it to the soft patch of grass on the other side. i don't know where they came from, or where they were headed. all that lay on either side of their path were houses and roads and more pavement. but i saw the shiny silver trails of many others stretching that expanse of sidewalk too, so it seems they have a plan. perhaps there is some sort of annual snail migration that happens, like how geese fly south for the winter. i'm not really sure, but i hope they make it safe.

i swear sometimes that i'm still five. i giggle at the bats flying overhead and feel giddy when the wind ruffles my hair. i can't not touch the fluffy grasses as i pass by or say hello to a stranger's dog. my favorite part about the snails was the shadows their long eyeball-feelers cast and i laughed out loud when the big snail turned them towards each other, looking himself in the eye. it's the little things in this life that make it so special, and that make me my happiest.

happy snail trails.