Saturday, April 11, 2020

Strength, Courage, and Happiness

Something singularly amazing happened to me today during my Saturday morning long run.  I had arrived at Founders Park a little late and missed Fred and Karen - their cars were parked nearby - so I began running by myself.  It was a cold morning - 40 degrees - and the sunshine felt warm on my shoulders as I turned down Pierson Drive and ran by Highlands School.  I eventually met Fred, and later Karen and Art and Vicki, but most of the time I ran alone for seven miles.

At one point, I found myself running down Sixth Street, and a few yards past the entrance to the Biological Station I faintly heard something falling on the road behind me.  I stopped and turned around - had I dropped something? - and walked back a step or two, and there on the pavement was a large dragonfly that had apparently fallen from an overhead tree.  What a curious sight!  It was dead, perhaps killed by the cold temperatures that morning which in Highlands had dropped below freezing.  I carefully scooped it up and examined it more closely.


What a beautiful creature this was! - its four thinly-veined wings, its long, straight body curiously segmented in shades of green and electric blue, and its oversized head with those huge, blind, bulging blue eyes.


What had made this dragonfly fall immediately behind me, perhaps even brushing my shoulder on its descent to the pavement, at the precise moment I was running by?

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, but Main Street was nearly empty again, only two or three cars parked in front of the Methodist Church, which has found creative new ways to worship during this pandemic.  They had a Virtual Good Friday service yesterday, and the festivities tomorrow will include a Virtual Easter Egg Hunt.  I am not sure what a virtual Easter Egg is, but I have always loved the cross on their front lawn, decorated with flowers this year as it has been for many years, and as it will be for years to come.


When I returned home and was working on this post, Martha (who has always loved dragonflies) pointed out a small sign that she keeps over her desk, and it seemed exactly appropriate for this time of hardship in all of our lives.


Perhaps that dragonfly fell into my run this morning, into my life, to remind me of this truth today.

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