"Flowers growing on the hill ... dragonflies and daffodils. Learn from us, very much. Look, but do not touch."
I never thought much about dragonflies before we lost our boys
because of Leukemia. If I thought of them at all, it was only to think
that they kept the mosquito population down, or that they were strange
and peculiar looking creatures. But then, when we moved to Florida two
years ago, they became a huge part of my life.
It began early one summer morning when Sally, the Wonder Westie, and I
were out in the backyard. She was on her leash just sniffing around.
Out of nowhere came an extraordinarily beautiful creature. He lit on
her leash and walked it like a tight rope right up to my hand. I was
pretty amazed – I just stood there staring. He was a lovely shade of
orange with glittering golden wings. With huge black eyes, he stared up
at me and then began to chatter. Did you know that dragonflies can
“talk”? Neither did I until that morning. A moment later, a second
dragonfly appeared, lighting on Sally’s leash behind the orange one. He
was the most spectacular shade of iridescent purple I have ever seen,
with silver wings.
We met every morning that summer, those two little dragonflies, Sally
and I. I learned that if I held my index finger out straight and
steady, occasionally one or the other would light there briefly. Their
touch was soft and gentle. Sometimes, they would be joined by their
friends ~ dazzling creatures in all the colors of the rainbow. There were
red ones, green ones, blue ones, yellow ones. I never realized that
dragonflies came in so many different colors. We began meeting in the
afternoons, too. Sometimes, we would just talk, other times they would
do soaring dances for me, flying high into the sky and circling round
and round. Sometimes, one would light somewhere and sit for 30 minutes
while I snapped pictures. That’s how I captured “Jeffrey’s Dragonfly” ~
the beautiful orange one that is the same color as Jeffrey’s hair! I so
looked forward to our visits every day!! They go to bed as soon as the
sun sets, but in summer that’s not very early, so we had lots of time
together.
When the Fall came and, along with it, cooler weather, our visits
became fewer and farther between until one day in November, there were
no dragonflies waiting for me. That was a sad day, still I knew in my
heart that they would be back, and I was thrilled that March morning
when I saw the first one! While they were away, I set about learning
everything I could about dragonflies. Did you know, because of their
wing configuration, they can hover, can fly backwards, forwards and
side-to-side. They are nature’s own little helicopters. Their
gossamer-like wings are pretty tough. It takes a lot to tear one, though
they look so very fragile. And, yes, they come in many different
colors! You just have to look closely ~
I also came across this inspiring story about dragonflies that brought even more meaning to me:
The Dragon Fly ~ In the bottom of an
old pond lived some grubs. They could not understand why none of them
ever came back after crawling up the stems of the lilies to the top of
the water. They promised each other that the next one who made the climb
would return to tell them what happened. Soon, one of them felt an
urgent need to seek the surface. He climbed the stem and when he reached
the surface, he rested on top of a lily pad. It was then that he went
through the glorious transformation that made him a dragonfly with
beautiful, amazing, translucent wings that shone many different colors
in the sunlight. In vain he tried to keep his promise to return, flying
back and forth over the pond and peering at his loved ones below. Then
he realized that, even if they could see him, they wouldn’t recognize
him for he was no longer a grub at the bottom of the pond. He had become
such a radiant and beautiful creature.
Here’s the thing … Just because we can’t see our loved ones or
recognize them after the transformation that we call death, it doesn’t
mean they cease to exist. No, it doesn’t mean that at all.
I’ve learned a great deal about this journey of life from my amazing
dragonflies. I’ve learned that our loved ones are not gone. They are all
around us each and every day … perhaps in the eyes of the spectacular
dragonflies.
Please see our blog at its new location ~ Nancy's Blog at Jeffrey's Voice ~ Together, we CAN cure leukemia and rid the world of this horrific disease once and for all. Together, we WILL ...
