This afternoon while watering my herb garden, I was visited by two dragonflies which continually buzzed and zipped closer and closer to me until finally, one landed on my shoulder. Its mate immediately claimed the other shoulder, and they fluttered there for several seconds while I stood as still as possible, enchanted.
Dragonflies are large, predatory insects with wingspans up to 5.5 inches. They fly at speeds up to 30 mph, snatching smaller insects from the air by means of their basket-like arrangement of legs. Fossil dragonflies of 250 million years ago had wingspans up to 31.5 inches, and were the largest insects known.
My visitors seemed to be attracted by the fine spray from my nozzle. They mate while flying and lay their eggs on water plants, so they may have been trying to determine whether my herbs and rose bushes qualified.
Then again, the personal contact made me wonder if perhaps they were the spirits of people close to me who had whimsically taken this form for the occasion. I may have just been visited by my mother and father, both long "dead," whatever that means. How clever of them to find me here since I still lived in New York when my father passed away, and in NC when I lost my mother.
My father had many talents, spoke 6 or 7 languages fluently, and could do anything. Shape shifting would be no challenge for him. He was God all my life.
My mother realized her dream of graduating from college at 79 (with honors) and was pursuing an advanced degree in Women's Studies when she died suddenly a year later. I have no argument with the way she died; I just thought we'd have her longer.
I don't know why they chose to visit me today as Sept. 7th is not a family anniversary of any kind. Or perhaps they visit me often, but I never noticed before. I will have to be more observant with my heart and not just my eyes from now on.
