The Dragonfly…or as some may see it, an air traffic controller’s nightmare. I guess you have to be in my mind for that one, a ladybug sitting atop a branch overlooking an area with headphones on, looking into a radar screen, losing her mind trying to control all the insect traffic and flight patterns…never mind, I digress.

I have always loved the dragonfly. When I was very young, my mom would take me to the town where she grew up and we would stand on the small bridge that overlooked the rather large pond (and small portion of the river) that ran behind her house. Thousands of dragonflies would zip across the water back and forth, in all possible directions, eating tiny bugs while avoiding being eaten themselves.

Although the flight pattern was chaotic, it still had a very mesmerizing affect (much like meditating) watching them for what felt like hours, being pulled into their very busy world. To see them perched with their dainty see-through paper wings, reflecting a rainbow-of-colors-sitting-atop-a-graceful-ballerina one moment and then shoot off like a Black Hawk helicopter on a hot mission the next, made it impossible to look away.

As an adult I now know that they must cram a lifetime of dragonfly business into just a few months. They must live for the moment, not only because their moment is already too short, but the perils that await them on a daily basis; the birds, the frogs, the omnivore fish that are a constant threat to their shortened lifespan…

Every moment, every second is cherished… to sit on a Lilly flower or vine and let the sun shine on their tiny bodies drying the morning dew may be the most simple enjoyment one can possibly have.