It's the Tiny Things - The Unexpected Visitor
The winners from last week's giveaway ✨🌙
I wake up early. Not by choice. If you haven’t reached this stage yet, midlife brings plenty of surprises in how your body works. I haven’t slept more than five hours straight in over a year. It used to make me angry. But now, I lean into it. Those quiet hours to myself while everyone else sleeps have become a sacred space.
Each morning, when I rise before the sun, I light a candle and settle in. I read passages from books I love or crack open a sketchbook. I draw a tarot card, pull out the yogamat, or just watch the smoke from my incense rise into the morning light.
Yesterday, as I sat on the couch with just a sliver of light in the room, a flutter caught my eye – a large moth drifted through the air like a dream. It disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared. I could not find it.
I went to make my morning coffee in the kitchen when I heard a thump in the dining room. My pug, Midge, was on her hind legs, paws against the wall, snapping at the air. The moth had followed us.
I grabbed a container and raced to save him before he became Midge’s morning snack.
Last year, my husband gifted me a glass terrarium. I’d never quite decided what to fill it with. I snipped a bit of lantana from the garden, placed it inside, and made a temporary moth habitat.
When I got a closer look, his wings looked like a dried autumn leaf or a piece of bark. He would be so easy to miss outside. That is the thing about moths fluttering in the dark: you can never get a good look at them. I sat with my coffee, watching him, feeling inspiration stir for my next art piece.
I find it rather profound how one thing can change everything. The domino effect of our decisions. How each of our actions ripples out into the universe.
Sometimes it’s something more impactful. Like you were going to drive your daughter to school, but you let your husband do it instead. He gets hit by a car in an intersection and suffers an injury. And you think it could have been prevented if you had driven, because the timing would not have been different.
Then other times, it is something simple. You ask a neighbor to walk your dog, so you leave the porch light on all night for her. The light draws all the moths to the party - one slips inside when she arrives. And just like that, your morning becomes magical.
It’s the tiny things.
Until Next Time 🌙 ✨
Kim
P.S. I so enjoyed reading all the comments last week. Please share one tiny thing that brought you joy in the past week!
Last week, I promised a Tiny Print to 5 people who commented one Tiny Thing that brought them joy. Here are the winners…
I will be sending you a Tiny Print in the mail! Please email me your address (kimkodesign@gmail.com) or send me a message in Substack!
Thanks for joining in the fun. I loved reading all of them.
Thanks so much, Kim! I'm so excited. 🥰
Love your story about the moth. I've had butterflies wake up in the house over the winter that had come in on my plants and various other unexpected guests. It always feels like such magic.
One tiny thing, or not so tiny thing, that brought me joy this week was seeing the Northern Lights for the first time in my life. I went out with the dogs before bed and was surprised by a red glow in the sky. Talk about magic!
While camping, I found a moth had gotten into the ash of the fire pit. I tried to rescue it. Carefully placing it in the bushes near by, adding a water drop on the leaf near it. It did not make it though. I cried. The park keeper and I were talking and I shared my story and she told me I had some underlying deep issues. Ugh. To care for the tiniest of creatures and have empathy - not really a bad thing. I still rescue bugs. lol. even spiders (though I can’t handle those) eek 😬
Thanks for the draw! I am excited to own a Kim K art piece 🤗💕
Another tiny joy to add to my week 🙏