Find the hidden caterpillars (and discover a metaphor for life)

How often can you play a game AND think about the mystery of your own life all at the same time?

I’m here today to provide you with entertainment and philosophy.

Here’s a picture of my beautiful tomato plants.  They were a lot bigger yesterday before 2 caterpillars decided to devour one of my plants overnight.  Can you find them?   Scroll down for answer (when you feel like an idiot staring at your screen)

Answer and metaphor below.

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Your joy is there.  It may be hidden and camouflaged by all the crap that we call life, but it’s there.

Go out and find your big fat hungry wonderful caterpillar….before the plant is all gone.

(sorry, for those hoping for a sappy butterfly metaphor, you’ll have to go elsewhere)

Look at this picture the next time you want to…..

…complain about anything (especially that your shoes hurt)

…feel sorry for yourself

…skip trying something because you’re afraid you’ll fail

…see the face of pure joy

I find myself looking at this amazing little guy a lot.

(His name is Cody McCasland and he was born prematurely and not expected to live.  Click here or on his picture to hear about his amazing inspiring story and maybe learn a lesson or two.)

Corporate acquisitions suck.

My favorite independent label iced tea, Sweet Leaf, is being “acquired” by Nestle.
Damn.
One of the reasons Sweet leaf tasted so good, was that it was a small company, started by two childhood friends.  They had a product they believed in, followed their hearts, and made a product I could believe in. (and it tastes flippin awesome. See my earlier post)  Organic teas and pure organic cane sugar make this the best tasting tea out there.

I know that when you make a product, you can only dream that someday, you will be purchased by a huge company  like Nestle worth billions,  but it still just doesn’t feel right to me, the consumer.

“It makes the fight more palatable when you have a great partner, and Nestle will be tremendous help for us going foreword.” said Dan Costello CEO of Sweet Leaf.

Translation:  ”It’s a lot easier to sell out when they wave upwards of $45 million dollars in your face and you know that the company sold $4.4 billion in 2010.”

The Sweet Leaf team will still “be running the company” but they won’t be “running” the company, if you know what I mean.  They couldn’t even bring themselves to comment on it on their funky cool web site, and only listed a link to the Nestle site for information on the transaction.  The change has already begun……

OK maybe that’s too harsh. I just know that when I put my lips to that ice cold bottle of Organic Mint and Honey Iced Tea, it just won’t taste the same.

Click here for Nestle site announcement of acquisition. You can also see all the other “water products” that belong to Nestle. Some might surprise you.