Several things happened this week, some of which were a little worrisome, but always there is something beautiful to balance those situations. But the big event revolved around Chiripa, as she was about to give birth. Our last day to run would be the 23rd because I noticed how difficult it was for her to keep up on our return journey. Her enthusiasm as we left was still great, but she was dragging her heels by the end, not like her at all. I was afraid she would have the babies on the road, because she was not one to be left behind!! The run seems to be the great joy of her life, one she is very grateful to participate in.
On this day, I was greeted by a new little friend, perhaps (as I look back now) she was a harbinger of things to come. She came in so silently waiting on my doorframe for me to return from sitting in the morning sun.
I moved ever so slowly hoping I would not frighten her as I opened my door and went to grab my phone to take a picture. I needn’t have worried because she seemed content to stay just where she was and no amount of coming and going by me or the dogs bothered her.
I was fascinated by her, and spent most of my morning watching her while I worked on the image I was drawing (a gecko in fact) as she slowly made her way around the door frame into my room. This took a considerable amount of time, and presented a bit of a problem when it was time to go for my meal because although her body was inside her long tail was still outside. She seemed to sense there was a problem because just as I was making the decision to move it for her, she did it herself. I was beginning to see her was a messenger, she was here for a reason…….
When I got back from my meal, I immediately checked to see where she was, if she was still on the doorframe. But alas, she was not there and a quick survey of the walls did not produce her. I looked everywhere, but there was no sign of her and I was disappointed. But she proved to be a master of disguise as she was still in my room laying on the large dog food bag against the wall. Whether it was just because I did not expect to see her so close to the floor or whether she, in her quiet way of being just prevented me from seeing her. I kept an eye on her, but she always seemed to make her move when I wasn’t watching. She spent the first night on the floor under my bed not moving more than an inch or two all night. She turned brown while she was laying there in the dark, making it difficult to see her without a flashlight. I checked on her several times, even waking up a few times through the night. Now I was worried that she was not well, that she had died through the night as she remained in the same position until morning.
I left for my run, one that turned out to be the last for ten days as I had a tooth abscessing, the pain proved to be too much on this day. Although I had such a good run, feeling like I could run forever, I could feel my jaw throbbing and knew I might have to take a few days off. I didn’t expect it would be ten. When I opened my door to grab my water, I almost stepped on Lizzy because she was on the floor just beside the door. I was so surprised to see her there, thinking lizards (geckos) were more likely to be on the wall. I was really worried about the dogs, not Mali, but the other dogs here would gladly make a meal of her. Chiripa especially could be a problem in her pregnant state, being hungry all the time.
When I found her on the door step, I decided I had to move her because it was too difficult to keep the dogs away from her – they were all curious. Surprisingly she let me pick her up, and I tried to put her on the tree just outside my room, but she would not go. So I put her to the window sill, but she didn’t want to go there either, content to be on my hand. I enjoyed a few moments with her on my hand, but I had to stretch out and have a shower so I gently pushed her to window sill thinking she may find her way back out to the brush, climb a tree when she was ready. But no, she just sat on my window ledge for most of an hour.
When I found her on the sidewalk below my window, I worried, the dogs were just too curious and she seemed completely unconcerned about their presence. So when I went for my meal I put her on my bed, believing she would find her own way outside when she was ready. But she was still on my bed when I returned. Throughout the day she moved around finding many places to hide herself. Kind of like a game of hide and seek. Every time I was sure she was gone, I would find her moments later – on my clothes under the table and finally on the bathroom window. This where she stayed for the remaining days of her visit with me. The window is quite high up, I could not reach her while standing on a chair. I did try because I was thinking as she spent so much time on the narrow windows screen, she was trying to find a way out. In the end, I realized she found her way there and would also find her way back to the door or the window when she was ready.
The bug population in my bathroom dropped significantly and so I was happy with my new house guest. She would lay on the window ledge with her little head hanging over the edge somethings making me smile. What was she thinking about? Why was she so content to live on my bathroom window? I felt she was here to help me through the days to follow her arrival, there was just something about her presence which gave me comfort, although I can’t really explain why.
As it turned out she was with me for about two weeks, leaving around the time I began to come out of my black hole (June 6th, the day I retuned to the blog). So she arrived as I fell into the hole and left as I was coming out of it. The night before she left, I came into my room having gone outside to check on Mali and bring her in for the night. When I came in and closed the door, I bent down to put my old shirt across the crack under the door (my spider proofing), and found myself looking at Lizzy. There were two very small oval objects just behind her. She was resting on my shirt. I had picked up one of the oval objects, and as I did so realized she must have laid eggs. I immediately did some searching on the web because if there was two, could there be more. On the window sill perhaps. I knew nothing about geckos, so I had to learn what I should do.
They lay one to two eggs, very soft and small. So now I knew there were not eggs on the window sill. They do not nest on them like a duck or chicken, but they should be in a humid spot preferably in the dirt or under the leaves. I picked her up and she stayed on my hand, quite content there. So I allowed her to stay, and as I watched her I knew it was time to get her outside, she had stayed long enough, fulfilling her purpose. When I was ready to go to sleep, I put her on the table beside my bed where she stayed until morning, not moving at all. When I got up, I gently picked her up and brought her outside. This time when I went to put her on the rock beside the tree, she scampered down and then scurried up the tree. She was ready to go. As I walked by the tree a few times that morning, I saw her on one of the branches and wondered as I did how many times she might have been there in the past, only I was unaware of her presence. This made me think about all the things we miss because we are not looking, in our own world, thinking our thoughts. I put her eggs beside the rock and covered them with a bit of dirt and some leaves. They were gone when I checked on them a day or two later, perhaps taken by the chickens or maybe Scott found them.
I think about little Lizzy everyday and thank her for coming into my life at a time when I was in such a terrible emotional state. I know she was in some way responsible for helping me get through it.
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