Dragonfly friends

Departing Cape Cod at night I can see a tiny sliver of a waxing moon on the horizon - it's a deep, deep orange as if getting ready for Halloween. As I travel it seems to move back and forth behind thin gray clouds. Off the plane's right wing I can see the lights of Provincetown at the tip of the Cape. Off the left wing are the lights of Nantucket and Marta's Vineyard. Flying home from the Cape, level at 6,000 feet I’m breaking out dinner while the autopilot directs the plane back to New York. I spent the weekend with Julia and Yani on Cape Cod - biking at sunset Saturday and attending Wellfleet's Oyster Festival on Sunday.

Late Sunday afternoon while Julia browsed through a shop, I had rested in a chair outside on the lawn. As I relaxed a dragonfly landed on my left knee and seemed to check me out. I thought about the dragonfly symbols on Robin's business cards and around her office. The dragonfly's on my knee bobbed its tail up and down, then its head. After a half minute the dragonfly took off, made a small circle and landed back on my knee. This went on for about five minutes, the dragonfly alternating between resting then taking off for a quick flight, then coming back to sit, move up and down, and clean itself. At one point I had an experience of feeling completely in the moment. For a short period of time I could see everything clearly. I could see every movement in the grass. I could sense the energy of the festival. I had a feeling of grieving well up from the inside, just enough to send a tear down my cheek. I wiped my eyes and cleared my head. Wow - it's been a while since that's come out.

Julia came out of the shop and asked what I was doing just as a second dragonfly joined the first one. I said I was hanging out with my dragonfly friends. They made a show of taking off and then landing back down on my leg - then they departed and left us to continue on our journey.