Every time I open the front door, I meet a little life

Thank you for finding this article among the many notes out there. I'm Pino, a physical therapist of 10 years, now working as a Seitai practitioner, living with my husband, my 7-year-old child, and a rabbit.

Last time, I wrote about things that eventually come to an end.
This time, it's the opposite.
I'd like to try writing about things that properly continue on.

🏡 What I see first every time I enter the house

When I return home, the first thing I see is the morning glory.
Recently, it has been blooming more and more, and every time I see it, I think, 'Oh, it's blooming. It really is summer.'

If I look toward the entrance, there are two insect cages.
Inside are a frog and a rhinoceros beetle.

In our house, we also have medaka (rice fish) and a rabbit.
I'll write about the rabbit another time,
but today, it's about the little creatures at the entrance.

🐞 The phase where you want to keep everything

I think small children go through a phase where they want to keep every creature they see, like pill bugs, grasshoppers, ladybugs, and praying mantises. In our house, it has gradually expanded from there to include rhinoceros beetles, frogs, and medaka.

🫧 The fry in the biotope

We keep the medaka in a biotope in the garden.
It's my daily routine to peek at them when I feed them.

The fry, which were as thin as needles at first, have gradually taken on the shape of medaka. Seeing the tiny bubbles coming from the Anacharis, which shares oxygen instead of an air pump, along with the medaka swimming energetically, makes me feel somewhat relieved, thinking, 'Oh, they are truly alive.'

Sometimes my daughter feeds them too, and she always gives new names to the few medaka, talking to them like, 'Me-chan, don't fight! Little one, grow up big and strong.'
That in itself is somehow heartwarming.

🪵 The first rhinoceros beetle I raised from an egg

Last year, I raised a rhinoceros beetle from an egg.
This was the first time I witnessed the whole process from start to finish: from egg to larva, larva to pupa, and pupa to adult.

A few of them successfully became adults and are now eating insect jelly.
When they became adults and I saw them on the soil, my daughter and I rejoiced together.
Since it was the first time for my daughter to see the whole process from the egg, she seemed especially happy.

🐸 Kae-chan came out of the soil again

The one I have the deepest attachment to is the frog.

Two years ago, a neighborhood boy caught some tadpoles in a river, raised them into frogs, and gave two of them to us. Actually, the year before that, we had raised tadpoles into frogs ourselves, but we failed at hibernation and they didn't make it to spring.

The one the boy gave us was the same species of Japanese brown frog as the ones from that time. Of the two, only one managed to survive. We researched various things, made preparations, and welcomed winter, determined to make hibernation a success this time.

When spring came, I was so worried about whether it would wake up properly.
My daughter and I dug into the soil, asking, 'Are you alive?', and sort of forced it to wake up...

When we were able to confirm it was alive,
'Wow! It's alive!' we both cheered with joy.
I was truly relieved.

It safely reached its second year, survived the intense heat, and autumn came again.
That year, too, we fed it plenty, collected fallen leaves to put in the insect cage, and made all the preparations we could for hibernation.

And this spring, it slowly emerged from the soil on its own.

“Oh, it’s alive.”

My daughter, who was the first to discover the frog, came to report it in a hurry, and we both felt relieved.

Before I knew it, we stopped calling it “frog” and started calling it “Kae-chan,” and even I, who wasn’t particularly fond of frogs, have come to think of it as cute.

🌱 I tried sowing last year’s seeds again

The morning glories by the front door are from seeds of the ones my daughter grew in her first-grade life studies class last year.

I myself grew morning glories at school when I was in first grade, and I had the experience of planting the seeds I harvested, only to have them bloom again the following year.

I wanted my daughter to experience the same thing, so I planted the seeds we harvested last year again this year. When I saw the sprouts appear and the flowers bloom, I felt relieved once again, thinking, “It really did carry on.”

I didn’t explain it in words, but I hope that by doing this, my daughter can feel in her own way how life continues.

🌏 Life truly goes on

In the midst of busy days, there are times when I suddenly feel lonely or get discouraged when things don’t go well. At such times, I usually don’t have the mental space to look around me.

But even then, at the front door or in the garden, each living thing is living its own life in its own way. Seeing that, there are moments when my heart feels calm.

It’s okay to have different ways of living,
and even small creatures are living their lives properly.

I don’t provide perfect care every single day. Even so, the medaka fish swim, the morning glories bloom, and Kae-chan lives a leisurely life.
They are each living their own lives to the fullest.

My daughter might not fully grasp it yet, but I hope that these days, where we encounter little lives every time we open the front door, will one day, when she is older, be something she remembers and that will quietly support her.

Even if there are days when things don’t go well, it’s okay.
The power to keep going is right here, so close to us. The little creatures at the front door are teaching us that quietly, yet powerfully.

If you are feeling a little tired today, or feel like things aren’t going well,
why not take a moment to look at the little lives around you?
Whether it’s a potted plant by the door, the flowers along the path, or a little bit of green on the balcony.

Thank you for reading until the end. If you felt like you could relate to this, it would be a great encouragement if you could like or follow.
Feel free to leave a comment as well.

I also make LINE stickers. Please take a look if you’d like.

📚 Recommended reading 👇

⭐ Even though I was just walking holding my daughter's hand, for some reason I was always in a hurry
⭐ Child-rearing that ended before I knew it, and the day when those hands will eventually let go
⭐ The power of the palm. Whether in rehabilitation, bodywork, or parenting, it is what I believe in.

[Qualifications and Background]
Physical Therapist (10 years of clinical experience)
Certified Respiratory Therapist (3-Society Joint Certification)
Completed Bobath Adult Advanced Course
Completed Bobath Pediatric Basic Course
Bodyworker

#DailyLife #ParentingMom #ConnectionOfLife #ObservingLivingThings #Beetle #MorningGlory #ParentChildTime #SelfCare #PhysicalTherapist #Bodywork