The Grasshopper

Until August 2019, I didn't have one single grasshopper-related story, but a few chance meetings later, and grasshoppers (and maybe their cricket cousins) have become a pretty big deal to me.

As far as I remember, it all started when my brother Karl stayed on the Sandbanks Ward (Poole Hospital) as he became more poorly and a grasshopper took up residence on his front door handle back at home. Day after day he would sit patiently on that door handle, seemingly carefree and oblivious to disturbance. along the pavement to my car. “It was a bit odd", I said as I recalled it later that day.

We became strangely ’dug in’ at Forest Holme. Karl's room was always full. Full with us, the kids' pictures and pom-poms, snacks, lotions, potions, candles and music. On the day he died, we packed all those things into bags and closed the door behind us. There’s something very unceremonial about going home and unpacking those bags. It’s incredibly empty. My husband called through to me, ”come and look at this, there's a grasshopper in the porch... I’ve never seen a grasshopper indoors, have you?".

Our focus turned to making Karl's funeral arrangements. With his trusty Seaview pub fast becoming a Co-op, we decided to invite everyone to join us to raise a glass to Karl where we'd enjoyed our last

Maybe a week or so later we’d moved to Forest Holme. I’d head over at five o clock each morning, take residence in my trusty recliner next to Karl‚ and so a new day would begin. But early one morning, as I left to drive to the hospice, my very own little grasshopper hopped along beside my feet, maybe 20 metres or so

family meal out for Mum's birthday, and where Karl and lots of his friends had reunited some time back. Of course, it was The Grasshopper.

The strangest of all happened at Karl's funeral. The children, Kaden and Evie, led Karl into the service. Evie placed a small bouquet on his coffin, Kaden a candle. After sitting beautifully throughout the service, the children went off to play, like only children could, running in and amongst hundreds of busy grasshoppers on a grassy hill to the side of the hall. As we went to leave Evie ran inside. ”Look at this Mummy!" On the front of her dress, just like a brooch, sat a still and patient little grasshopper. No amount of poking from this 6 year old’s fingers would budge him on and he brought us all a smile.

So this little creature, with its numerous visits, was notably persistent. So much so, and with no preconceptions, I had to look it up.

So what's the significance of a grasshopper? a specific area of life without fear. Usually that specific area is one that we have avoided and is often connected to change on a larger scale.

Grasshoppers can only jump forward....not backward, or sideways. So, when a grasshopper shows up he could be reaffirming to you that you are taking the right steps to move forward. Or it could be that he is telling you to go ahead and move forward, getting past what is hindering you. This is why the grasshopper is the symbol of good luck all over the world. A grasshopper’s ability to connect and understand sound vibrations is why he is also a symbol of your inner voice. He could be telling you to trust yours."

”When the grasshopper appears to us we are being asked to take a leap of faith and jump forward into

So whilst all this may be a thing of immense mystical significance, equally it may instead be a series of complete coincidences. Maybe we'll see Karl again one day and he'll say, ”so you spotted my grasshoppers then?" Or maybe that'll never happen. Regardless, those little visits have served their purpose. They've allowed us to make a new connection with Karl, to make new memories with him, even after life penned his full stop and we believed there'd be no more. These little creatures represent important life lessons that can be hard to follow on our darker days, but we can still value them and take heed on our stronger days; to move forward, to take a leap of faith, to listen to our inner voice. I’m hugely grateful they hopped by.