Bedtime with Mrs.
Honeybee Today,
I want to tell you one of my favorite stories,
The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
It's a simple but profound story that I read to my two children when they were young and that I read with students in my classroom every year.
But,
I want to tell you this story in a new way,
My little honeybee.
Doing so will help me explain something that I'm very excited to share.
Once upon a time,
There was the littlest egg basking in the moonlight on a leaf.
Oh,
Is that?
Yes,
Indeed it is,
Melody Bee.
I can already hear.
Um,
How about letting Mrs.
Honeybee tell the rest of the story,
Melody Bee?
Oh,
Oh,
Oh,
Of course,
Of course.
Sorry,
Everyone.
I love this story so,
So much,
Too.
Okay.
Where was I?
Oh,
Yes.
There was the littlest egg laying on a leaf in a bountiful,
Lush garden in the moonlight.
How exciting!
Done again.
That little egg sat on the leaf all night as if it knew that the next day when the sun came up and said good morning,
Something remarkable would happen.
My little honeybee,
Have you ever done something so typical but had this strange feeling deep down that one day it would turn into something more than you could have ever dreamed?
Snoring.
It seems Harold is already asleep dreaming his big dream.
Like this little egg on the leaf in the garden.
I read my son and my daughter little bedtime stories long ago when they were just little.
I read them this story and so many others.
When I read to them,
Mr.
Honeybee would make sounds to complement the story by stomping his feet or tapping the nightstand or mimicking the crunched sounds of rustling leaves.
That's right.
I also would step in if there were any dragon parts or dashing king parts as needed.
We'd read in different funny voices for different characters and would have so much fun reading to them that I found neither of them would get sleepy.
Back to the little egg on the leaf in the moonlight.
The next day,
When the sun came up,
The littlest crack in the littlest egg on the leaf grew into a bigger and bigger crack until a very hungry caterpillar was born.
The first thing this caterpillar did was look for something to eat.
It's a lot of work breaking out of your shell.
The little caterpillar ate an apple,
Two pears,
Three plums,
And four strawberries,
But was still hungry.
Wow.
He's eating his way through the garden.
But not just that,
Melody Bee.
The littlest caterpillar was also doing something else.
Driven by a wordless urge to satisfy his hunger,
This little caterpillar was also growing.
His hunger was a means to an end of that growth,
And he followed that invisible force toward anything he could use to grow.
He didn't know why,
But he knew he needed to grow bigger.
Now,
Back to my son and my daughter,
Not at all sleepy,
Being entertained by me and Mr.
Honey Bee acting out stories late into the night.
We'd get through three or so books without any sleepiness.
Eventually,
I learned to put down the books and instead make up the story.
There were no pictures to look at.
There was only how I told the story,
And what they could imagine with their little eyes closed.
I didn't know it at the time,
But this was a key that unlocked a door to a whole new world.
Like that very hungry caterpillar,
I knew I needed to get my children to sleep so they could be their best,
But also,
Being a mother means growing in unexpected ways right along with your children.
So,
Led by a practical need for sleepy kids and also an invisible urge that I couldn't name then,
I grew as a storyteller night after night,
Telling stories in more vivid,
Imaginative ways with more long,
Slow,
Deep breaths in and out to relax their busy little nervous systems.
This went on for years.
Back to the caterpillar.
After consuming all that yummy food,
The caterpillar was still hungry.
Next,
He ate five oranges,
One piece of chocolate cake,
One ice cream cone,
One pickle,
One slice of Swiss cheese,
And a slice of salami.
These are unexpected choices for a caterpillar,
But that invisible force of hunger made it necessary to continue fueling its growth with more nutrients,
No matter where it came from.
Is that when you started reading stories in your special way in your classroom,
My dear?
When our kids were old enough to read themselves to sleep each night?
That's precisely what happened.
I missed reading to my children so much,
But my children weren't children anymore.
They grew up to be intelligent,
Creative adults.
I still felt that nameless,
Invisible force deep down,
And I knew I had to grow it into something.
So I took my storytelling to my classroom.
When my students would come back from lunchtime,
I noticed they were more.
.
.
Boisterous.
To help them calm down a bit and focus on our afternoon lessons,
I would tell my stories to them in the same way.
It's not as unexpected as a caterpillar eating cake,
But what we did next was.
.
.
Like a caterpillar eating ice cream and cheese,
I went to a very unexpected place to read stories.
I went online.
I am not a technology wizard like Mr.
Honeybee or Roger Robot,
Which is why they helped me so much to get started and still help me every day.
Together,
We made the jump to this unknown territory.
I don't know too much about computers or all the gadgets and gizmos that helped me reach you,
My little honeybee,
But I felt very much like a little caterpillar in a huge unknown world,
Eating a slice of salami,
Reading my stories online.
I didn't know if anyone would ever hear them,
Or if they did,
If they'd like them.
I kept reading and writing my stories,
Even though it was new and scary because of that invisible urge to grow that I felt deep down inside,
Just like this very hungry caterpillar who was still hungry.
Next,
He ate a lollipop,
Pie,
Sausage,
A cupcake,
And a slice of watermelon.
By this point,
The littlest caterpillar was growing from all this delicious food,
But it had a stomachache,
Or,
As I like to call it,
A growing pain.
I don't even have a stomach,
And I have a stomachache from that list of foods.
What was he thinking?
I think I know what you're going to say next,
My dear.
Is this when we put the honeybee neighborhood on insight timer so that little honeybees can listen to our stories?
Right again,
Mr.
Honeybee,
A lovely growth spurt that was so gratifying to experience.
Our growth necessitated a place to put all these many,
Many stories for even more honeybees to find and enjoy along with us.
But as I continued writing,
With Melody Bee fluttering up to my window and helping me,
We kept coming up with more and more stories.
To this day,
Melody Bee and I have new story ideas just about every single day,
And together we write them,
One by one.
It's all thanks to that invisible force guiding me to keep growing as a storyteller and guiding us to keep growing the ways in which we can share our stories.
What happens next to this caterpillar is my favorite part.
The very hungry caterpillar rightly had a stomach ache,
So he let himself digest all the yumminess,
All the growth,
And all the change.
He took as much time as he needed to settle into not being a little caterpillar anymore.
Now he was a big caterpillar.
This is exactly where I am now,
My little honeybee.
When you listen to these honeybee neighborhood stories,
I am a big caterpillar that is busy at work continuing to grow in very special and unique ways.
Mr.
Honeybee and Roger Robot have taken your feedback and made my stories as accessible as possible so we can be here together in the honeybee neighborhood each and every night.
Think of this as a little cocoon for us,
Just like the caterpillar made on his journey to become a beautiful butterfly.
Oh,
Mr.
Honeybee,
My dear,
It sounds like the water is boiling for tea.
Would you make us some?
Of course.
Does lavender sound good?
That sounds delicious.
My little honeybee,
I can't tell you much because Mr.
Honeybee keeps things he's really excited about quiet.
Until they're perfect.
But he is working on something big.
Mr.
Honeybee,
Mr.
Honeybee,
She's telling him about the prototype.
No,
She's not,
Mr.
Honeybee.
Keep going,
Mrs.
Honeybee.
What is it?
What is it?
I've tried so many times to get this out of him.
I can't say it fully,
But Mr.
Honeybee is working on something that will change the way we look,
Just like that very hungry caterpillar did.
My dear,
It's not done yet.
Did you spoil the surprise?
Of course not,
My dear.
I promised you I wouldn't tell.
I'm just letting our little honeybee know that all of their support through these changes is helping us immensely in our necessary growth.
Now I'm getting to the good part of the very hungry caterpillar story.
Okay,
Okay.
But that's all we can say for right now.
What the caterpillar did next,
After all his growing,
Is truly marvelous.
He built himself a temporary house called a cocoon where he felt safe and cozy.
This cocoon is a special place where the caterpillar does the most growing.
And when he's done there,
You barely even recognize him when he emerges as a butterfly.
As a butterfly,
That once tiny egg on a leaf in the moonlight of the garden can flutter around the world.
That is what we are working on next,
My little honeybee.
Though we cannot say much more about what Mr.
Honeybee and Roger Robot are working on,
Melody Bee and I are busily writing some very exciting things in this cocoon we're in.
Like you may be seeing a Mrs.
Honeybee show someday.
Or perhaps even illustrated books that you can hold in your hands.
All sorts of things are possible with your support.
Am I a movie star?
Perhaps,
Melody Bee,
Perhaps.
So we'll get to see Little Honeybee even more and they might get to see us?
That's the plan.
By my calculations,
Things are going according to plan,
But that's all I can say for now.
That's right.
We don't want to spill the beans too soon.
Spilled beans are the worst.
Exactly.
But just know that while we're bundling ourselves up into a cozy cocoon made available anywhere you listen to podcasts,
Just like that caterpillar,
There's a lot of invisible work going on behind the scenes.
We're growing in fundamental ways to become even bigger and stronger and more imaginative.
Once that very hungry caterpillar was done with his cocoon,
He nibbled a small hole in the side and pushed his way out.
But that caterpillar didn't look at all the same because that caterpillar is now a butterfly.
And though this story about the hungry caterpillar is over,
The story of my growth from a mother reading bedtime stories to her two young children to a teacher reading stories in her classroom and now reading to the world the same story that brought me to you,
My little honeybee,
Will never end.
With the help of my family,
Mr.
Honeybee,
Roger Robot,
Melody Bee,
And of course,
Harold.
With the help of my family,
I will be here forever and for always to make bedtime just a bit easier for you and your family.
We all have bedtimes,
And I believe that bedtime should be a joyful,
Easy time to open up your heart and your imagination and let everything else go just for the night so you can wake up self-assured and strong to be fully present in your day tomorrow.
You might hear us talk about new places where you can find stories or may notice some of our stories are a little different than usual,
But always know that though we may transform from a caterpillar to a butterfly in this cocoon,
We will always be the same deep down inside.
We will always be here for you,
With you,
To be your home within a home inside my heart where that invisible force grows me,
You,
And us all together.
From my heart to yours,
I want to thank each and every one of you for your sweet and loving messages.
Your support feeds that force of good that lies at the center of the Honeybee neighborhood that keeps us growing and never stops.
Thank you so,
So much I can't wait to see where this transformation takes us.
Good night,
My little Honeybee.
Always remember,
Mrs.
Honeybee believes in you.
You are special and you are loved.
I can't wait to see you again.
