We are blessed, in Hawaii, to have a myriad of gorgeous animals and I love them all! We have butterflies dancing in the breeze year round, colorful parrots soaring up and down the slopes, and of course, several varieties of dolphins and whales frolicking in the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean.

In additions to these tropical wonders, we also have a magnificent assortment of geckos, small Hawaiian style lizards which can cling to vertical surfaces because of the suction pads on the tips of their toes.

One particular variety of day gecko attracted me when I first came to The Big Island and I decided that I wanted them all over my house and yard. It didn't take long before I had my wish. My house, inside and out, is filled with all sorts of geckos! The particular variety I love the most is several shades of bright, luminous, neon green and has bight red neon spots down its back.

Last week, as I was going out to my mailbox, I reached for the knob on my copper gate and one of these friends was there staring back at me. He was an especially large and brightly colored day gecko with gorgeous markings!

I stopped to gaze in amazement, looking up and down at his beauty. He let me get very close and did not scurry away as is typical. With my heart bursting in the magic of it all, I said to him, "do you know how beautiful you are? You are many shades of bright neon green and have beautiful red marking down your back! You are a gorgeous creature!"

Without missing a beat, he promptly picked his head up off the gate and with his tiny dark eyes, methodically looked me up and down exactly as I had done him!

I felt revealed but got the message. I bowed to the wisdom of my teacher and quietly said, "namaste." I then humbly and shyly, as if caught by my own innocence, turned giggling all the way to the mailbox. Thanks to the lesson of the day gecko, I had remembered and was basking in my own beauty.

Do you know how beautiful you are?