Backfires were set to drive the fires away in order to protect structures last month. In a similar way we have also done our best to protect our children as we made hard decisions about which toys to take and where to go in case our homes burned down or our houses flooded.
Do you recall the old rhyme, “Ladybug, ladybug fly away home, your house is on fire and your children all gone”? Somehow a rhyme from my childhood that seemed innocent at the time has taken on a more menacing tone. My young mind never grasped the meaning of the words in the same way that they strike me now after understanding just how many people lost homes.
This makes me think about the power of story, myth and rhyme to help us heal after enduring something terrible. I remember as a child, each time I held a ladybug on my finger, I would either think or speak the rhyme and then blow gently. It gave me a good feeling to believe that I could do something to help the little critter get back to her home and children. To be able to do something to help something smaller and more powerless made me feel good.