The Pet That Almost Was

June decided a while back at the end of summer that she wanted a pet ladybug. She did research on it and knew all the ins and outs about the care and maintenance of your common spotted friend. And then...she couldn't find one.

I was definitely okay with the lack of ladybugs. Because really, I feel if you keep a wild thing penned up, you soon will have a dead wild thing.

And so time passed. Should I do one of those symbols for time passing?

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One day, Daisy found a ladybug outside. They were playing with her (Are they all hers? Well, I guess not because the one in A Bug's Life was a boy) and letting her crawl all over.

I even got out the macro lens and took some closeups.

June was expounding her knowledge of ladybugs and I asked how she knew some of that stuff. She said, "Remember when I was going to have a pet ladybug and I researched them....wait....A PET LADYBUG!!!"

She was so excited. I couldn't say no. We found a nice container and gave "Treety" (as Daisy named her) water, and honey. I guess Aphids are sweet, so you can substitute sugar or honey. We fed her regularly and she was as good a pet as one could expect from a ladybug.

And then I mistakenly told the kids they should hold her again. One moment she was there...the next, gone. She literally disappeared. She fell off Daisy's shoulder and didn't seem to hit the ground. But she wasn't anywhere else either. We couldn't find her anywhere. And we still haven't seen her to this day.

I hope she found a way out of the house, because I'm sure a little ladybug corpse would only cause a fountain of tears around here. But she was a good pet while we had her.