“Land of Lost Socks” is a story I wrote for my daughter Amy. Amy passed away from Multiple Sclerosis almost two years ago so the story is fiction. But, the amount of love I had for her is real.

Land of Lost Socks – Chapter 2

One of the fondest memories I have is of Amy’s pet worms. I had planted dill in my herb garden when she was three. We were picking basil one afternoon when Amy shrieked gleefully. I immediately looked to see what had excited her.

“Come look, Mommy at what I ‘scovered. N-e-e-e-e-e-t worms.”

I decided right then and there if my dill was infested, the little critters had to be destroyed. Amy began to cry when I told her the worms had to go.

“Please, Mommy,” she tearfully pleaded. “I wanna keep ‘em. I’ll feed ‘em and everything. You won’t have to do nothin’,” she begged in a strong, argumentative tone. Of course I could not refuse her request.

We put Willie and Wanda in a shoebox, covered the opening with net so Amy could watch them. She fed them fresh dill every day. One morning I was relaxing with a cup of hazelnut decaf when Amy ran into the kitchen.

“Mommy come quick, my worms died,” she said with tears welling up in her eyes.

I took her hand and we went to check on Willie and Wanda. I discovered the worms had spun cocoons on the top of the box. I explained to Amy what had happened to her pets. We anxiously waited six days for the hatching of two of the most beautiful blue and yellow butterflies I had ever seen. Even I had to change the way I viewed worms after that.

Amy seemed to bring joy into every situation. We could not have been closer if we had been glued to each other. Our relationship was filled with laughter, tears, joy and heartache.