Blossoms and Bugs by Joylene M. Bailey

The story was about an ant named George who had moved into a new neighbourhood. He was looking forward to meeting all of his neighbour ants, so as soon as he got all of his furniture moved in, he put his name on the mailbox at the end of his driveway: Mr. G. I. Ant. He waited and waited but nobody came to visit him. Turns out that all the other ants were afraid to visit Mr. Ant because of the name on his mailbox.

That story blew little Joy's eight-year-old mind. 

In that split second of understanding - that G. I. Ant could also be read as GIANT - she entered a whole new universe, an extraordinary and enchanting garden. A place where words were magic. Where they blossomed and bloomed, shifted and shimmered, startled and soothed. 

Her love of what words could do was born in that moment. 

As Joy grew, she collected words, like a gardener collects blooms in a basket, carefully choosing the choicest ones to display on notecards fastened to walls and mirrors in her house, or to press in the pages of a quote book. 

Scripture words, unique words, other people's words. She marvelled at the way the fragrance of another's words could carry her through the hardest days, and she hoped that one day she'd be able to use her own words to encourage someone else in the same way. 

So she worked in her garden of words whenever she could. She planted and weeded, collected and pressed. She studied and practiced, honing her skills. And she started giving her words away, in single blooms or larger bouquets, each a little different from the last.

Many years later, in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, she was contacted by a stranger who had read her words and wanted to use a small bouquet in a book of hope and encouragement she was publishing. 

That request blew Grandma Joy's fifty-eight-year-old mind.

But what is even more striking is that someone somewhere wrote a little story about an ant named George that blossomed the mind of a little girl. 

~~~~~

All images from Pixabay.com 

Joy plays in her word garden in Edmonton where she lives with The Cowboy and soon-to-be-married-in-the-middle-of-a-pandemic Babe. Find more of her words at Scraps of Joy.