Bruce and I went for a morning walk. Lots of work ahead of us today and supposed to get hot, so the morning walk seemed like a good idea. It is truly beautiful on the island in the morning. Birds, blue sky, white clouds, sparkling river, and of course shad flies. Lots and lots of shad flies. The hatch this year has been seemingly continuous.
These creatures actually fascinate me. They really are gracefully made. And they fly about in what seems to be a joyful celebration of life.
I read that Adults have a lifespan ranging from a few minutes to a few days. The average lifespan is only one or two days.
24 hours. That's all you get. 24 hours unless a bird catches you first. And so they celebrate. They celebrate because they have 24 hours to live and breathe. They celebrate because for 24 hours they will fly. They celebrate because they never seem alone but always within a community of fellow celebrants.
A time for giving birth;
a time for dying.
Today is our season to celebrate life. It may be only 24 hours more or it may be another 24+ years. But today we dance and fly as a newly hatched shad fly does.
Most people choose to complain about the shad flies. They do make a mess after all and they do begin to stink as they decompose. But don't most celebration end with a mess to be cleaned up?
I hope you celebrate the next 24 hours with the exuberance of a gracefully made freshly hatched shad fly.
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