Ants

December 7, 2011. God says to watch ants. The only time I do this is when I am stuck waiting, which happens a lot in Brazil. It also happens that there are a lot of ants in Brazil, so you are stuck watching them more than you want. When I was little, I watched ants a lot. I would rescue stray ants that would roam the house. I'd rescue them from mom's squishing and dad's spraying. I felt like a hero. I cried when the ant died in "Honey I Shrunk the Kids." Ants and I were friends.

Then I came to Brazil. The land of ants. Brazil is a creative, colorful, tropical country full of creative, colorful, tropical people. And ants. So many different kinds of ants. I met fire ants that bit my toes when I played soccer barefoot. I met little ants that floated around in my lemonade, getting into any food I didn't refrigerate. I met ants that ate the glue out of my books, ants that joined me on picnics, ants that crawled up the tree after me, but most interestingly, I met tanaguras.

Tanaguras are the size of my big toe. They come out after the rain and children splash around in puddles, collecting them in buckets. But only once a year. I ran around after them, laughing at the fun, but only managed to catch one. I proudly showed it to Junior who said "Wonderful! Now you can eat it!"