Winters in Dallas, Texas were cold and icy. My favorite thing was to curl up with a Dr. Pepper, bag of Fritos and a good book. My father bought me a set of encyclopedias and I heard weekly how much they cost. So I started at “A” and had barely read past everything you could want to know about amebic dysentery when I jumped with joy. I found a Formicarium, an ant hill in captivity. This meant that I could watch the ants and learn their behavior.
How exciting. I couldn’t wait. I marched outside, found the biggest ant hill, dug it up, and put it in Mother’s large turkey pan. I put it next to my bed and was totally captivated watching them as I ate cheese and crackers. I fell asleep thinking of names for them.
The next morning the dirt was there but the ants were gone! I picked up the book and read some more. I found that once you create the formicarium you must surround it with a moat or a body of water to keep the ants in captivity. Wow!
I started dressing for school in the hopes I could get out of the house quickly before mother came in. I was dancing around the hardwood floor because I did not want to kill any of my subjects; they were having a marvelous time with the crumbs from my late night snack. But, I didn’t get out fast enough. Mother came in to say something and then went into shock.
“Where in the Sam Hill did all these ants come!?” she asked. Then she spied the turkey tray. “Don’t tell me; please don’t tell me you brought them in the house. NO!!!”
Yes, mom, it’s a formicarium and I can watch them work and I just forgot to build the moat but I can do that ….I don’t think I ever finished that sentence.
“You mean you dug them up and brought them in?” Now her hands were on her hips and that was the danger signal to me so I was moving out of that room at warp speed when she shouted after me, “Formicarium, my hind foot. You better get out of here before I build a moat around you. Wait till your father hears this story!”she shouted as I ran out the back door.
From that day on, the ant has been a major fascination for me. Recently, I saw a documentary on research done to discover how ants are able to find their way back to their hill. When they leave, they look back at the hill and they store a vision of the hill in their minds. Then, they go all over.
If you have seen ants running around, they just go in all directions. When they are ready to go home, they call up that vision and keep moving around 360 degrees until they lock in that original outline of the ant hill with the terrain.
That’s one of the most important discoveries for me. I think that’s what we need. A vision of where we are going in life. I want to see it, feel it and be part of it as well as having a vision to send up to the universal field. It’s important to let the universe know what you want so they can change things for you to bring you the people, money or whatever you need to make that vision come true.
People receiving Academy Awards often say this was their vision. Only recently someone said, “When I was 9 years old I would sit in my bath tub and see myself receiving an Oscar and here I am!” It’s our vision that takes us to the next level and keeping that vision clear in our mind is how we reach that next “ant hill.”
No, my father did not scold me; he asked what I learned about the ants, outside of course, where mother could not hear him.
