*FAIR WARNING: RYAN-LENGTH POST* A couple of days ago, at the tail end of a mountain bike ride while I was spinning down on the road near our house, this huge dragonfly shows up and starts pacing me, just ahead and to my left. After a moment I realize that this is deliberate on its part, and we start to dance like a couple of fighter pilots mock-dogfighting....I wheelie; it darts just far enough off to the side to show me that it isnt scared, and accelerates. I sprint to catch up; it carefully maintains just enough of an effortless lead to show me that it isnt impressed and that I have now been officially served. So now its on. I put the hammer down and start hitting all the neighborhood terrain obstacles. The dragonfly holds formation through all of it, with such casual precision that I feel like a Blue Angel. I hit the sharp dirt rise in front of our yard, dumping most of my speed, and then drop back down a different opening into the road. This seems to amuse the dragons little brain, because then it starts darting away periodically and seeming to disappear....yet a fraction of a second later, there it is, in the same spot again, just ahead and to my left in the middle of the road. This happens several times, each so fast that I have no idea where it went or how it got back to pole position. Show-off. Eventually, after staying with me through random swerving, sudden stops, a 15-second track stand (it hovered), and generally continuing this sort of very un-insect-like behavior for another mile or so, the dragonfly peeled off -- presumably to go all Red Baron on some mosquitoes at a nearby pond. I finally went into the house and immediately started wondering if all that had actually just happened. Ive had amazing experiences with dragonflies before, living on lakes....but nothing remotely like this. It was more like being with a (very talented and enthusiastic) dog than a bug. Even now, days later, it warms my heart and brings a smile to my face to think about that strange, perfect suspended moment in time. I cant think of anything that has happened in a long time that went nearly so far in restoring my faith in Life, the Universe, and Everything. Maybe I will never be able to adequately explain why--even with all these many, many words. But something about seeing that kind of behavior from an insect that I didnt think was capable of anything even close.....opened my eyes to just how much about this world I am still not seeing. How much beauty. How much wonder. How much possibility.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 23:19:26 +0000
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