galactic_bug_man's Journal

This weekend is one of the worst I have ever had in my life. My grandmother (mom) passed away after her long struggle with stage three vaginal cancer on Saturday night. It left us all very sad and miserable. The next day I decided to head out and clear my head by spending some well needed time out in nature. I did take a few photos but from the way I was feeling I was not on the top of my game at all. I did get to see one thing that I have never seen before. When I was at Elmer W. Oliver I saw my very first Bullfrog tadpole. It was a huge sucker nearly half the size of my palm. I knew that they were big frogs as adults but my word they are large even as larva. My mom would have loved to have seen that. It is sad that she is not hear physically but I know that she is watching over me from another plain from beyond and will always be there for me. I don't like the thought of not being there while one a walk but to know that she will always be with me is one thing I can live with. I will miss her very much but I know that she is in a much better place. The next City Nature Challenge, Bio Blitz, and the Christmas Bird Count I am doing it all in her honor. She is the one who let me join the FFA and the Texas Master Naturalist group and I will continue to carry on doing what I have been doing. It is the way mom would have wanted it. I will make my mom proud by continuing my journey and never giving up on my dreams. Even though it is sad she is never completely gone. She taught me so much about nature and how to garden. She was the one I could really talk to on an intellectual level about nature debates and stuff. She was one for a good nature conversation and loved animals as much as I do. She loved being with me on hikes and learning all the stuff I would learn in classes and from iNaturalist. She really pushed me to do the CNCs and helped me find some of the coolest stuff. It will be hard but I know that one day I will see her again. I will always carry her teachings close to my heart and continue the stuff that we started together and do it all for her. She was my everything and my best friend. I dedicate my iNaturalist page to her memory.