The hardworking wife and mother flopped down on her bed to answer the phone. The kids had gone to bed, the laundry was folded and the husband (who was briefly out of town) had called. She pushed the little green “ANSWER” rectangle and kicked up her feet.

No sooner than she had said “Hello” to her husband did the woman notice the inch and a half long slug that now sat face to face with her on her comforter.

Slug. Aka snail without a shell.

Slug. Who belongs in the garden and not on a king sized comforter.

Slug. Visions of that weird boat scene in the old Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory danced through her head.

The husband who would normally kill or dispose of such a creature was not physically there to rescue and the suggestions he made on the phone didn’t help. The woman could swear the slug’s beady little eyes bulged a little when she screamed.

She flipped it with an envelope. The slug hit the wall with a dull thump.

The woman glared with disgust, not at the slug, but at her worthless cat snoring nearby. Isn’t this why people have cats? To keep a home free of such disturbances?

After the woman had bundled the slug comfortably in a wad of tissue and flushed the beast down the toilet, her husband noted with acumen and intelligence, “Man. That slug must have been crawling for days to have been able to make it up on that bed.”

True. Whether or not the slug had slowly slid up the side of the bed and quietly crept up the quilt or whether it had been placed there by a resident child, the woman would never know. But assuming the slug had reached the top of the bed by natural means, her husband was correct. A journey like that must have taken forever in the short-lived world of a slug.

The lessons from this parable are endless. 1. Don’t get a cat that would rather sleep than eat a slug. 2. Make sure your bed is free of disturbing creatures when you plop down to have a conversation. 3. Keep a tissue box by the bedside at all times.

And the woman’s personal favorite, 4. Before this short life ends, think big and crawl (or slither) high. Don’t let things like useless felines, seemingly comfortable environments, or crazy-haired mothers deter you from doing what you have set out to do. If it takes all day or all year or the next decade, “crawl for days” to reach your goal.

Do you give up easily? Do you have discipline to keep trying even when it’s hard? What makes you give up? Have you ever reached a “crawl for days” type of goal?