Editor's Note: D. Barbara McWhite grew up in York County, S.C., and lives in Orange Park, Fla., with her husband and cat. Her columns is published on this website each Tuesday. Opinions expressed are solely her own.

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My lawn looks like a patchwork quilt -- here a green patch, there a yellow patch, there a brown one.

Why?

Because an army of tiny bugs have invaded my grass. Chinch bugs, they are called here in Florida, and when they invade a lawn, they suck the sap out of the grass near its roots, causing the grass to rapidly die.

So add chinch bugs to the list of small things that bring misery to my life.

Amid my bathroom books is one whose title is, “Don't Sweat the Small Stuff -- And It’s All Small Stuff.” The title is catchy, and its simple homilies seek to address many of life's small crises with the admonition that "it’s a small thing, so don't sweat it."

So, a couple of months ago, when the first brown spot appeared on my lawn, I didn't sweat it. We continued to cut the grass and even bought the best (aka, the most costly) weed-and-feed, which served to grow lusher grass with more sap for the darned bugs to eat.

Suffice it to say that by the time I began to sweat, the small critters had devoured a third of the grass in my front yard.

So now I'm really sweating. Bought some atrazine to kill the bugs. Have to wait for the infestation to end. Must then dig out the dead grass, haul home a load of sod and replant my decimated lawn.

Wish I had "sweated it" when the problem was small.

Come to think of it, there are a lot of things better sweated small. Fever blisters. Kid’s tantrums. Cavities. The weak spot in a pair of tight pants.

What if firemen decided to not sweat the small stuff? Or a wedding planner? Or your partner?

Contrary to my bathroom book, I believe it’s often the small things that make or break us. And the sooner we are able to detect a problem and fix it, the less likely it will cost us financially, physically and emotionally.

Doctors know we should sweat the small stuff. That’s why the need for mammograms, prostate checks and colonoscopies.

Pest control professionals come to our house looking not for the big, talking bugs from the TV commercials but for the small stuff.

And most disasters, from the Titanic to world wars to marital disasters, began with someone ignoring the small stuff.

Now I know that the mission of the book is to encourage us to stay positive amid life’s daily trails, to tell us that in the scheme of things the small things don't matter.

But looking out on the withered wreckage that was my lawn, I must advise: Nip it in the bud. Dot your i's and cross your t's. The small things matter, folks. They really matter.

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