Dragonfly Encounter

I went tubing last week with my grown children and their friends. For those who are uninitiated in tubing...let me explain. People pay money to sit in or lay on top of a large plastic or rubber tube and allow the current of icy cold water carry them down a river with unseen and unknown critters lying at the bottom waiting to bite their now-numb butts. The length of this supposedly relaxing ride varies from place to place. Our tube ride was supposed to last 2 hours but we were enjoying ourselves so much we made it last for 4 hours. That allowed the sun to completely blister us rather than just a partial burning.

Florida is very hot! hot! hot! in August so the 72 degree water temp, though initially a shock, was a welcome relief. The water on Rainbow River is crystal clear in many of the spots we floated over but there were some very grassy locations that gave me the hebee jebees because I didn't know what might be lying in wait under my tube. Since there were many, many other tubers, kayakers and even some motorized boats, much of the wildlife was absent. A turtle here or there basking on a log or a heron perched high in a cypress tree far from the maddening crowd below was about all of which I caught sight,

I did enjoy the company of a large (really large) brown dragonfly that landed on my knee. We enjoyed each other's presence for nearly an hour, floating together down the Rainbow River. I stared at his huge compound eyes, watching him watching me. I watched him breathe through spiracles located near his butt and tried to match my breathing to his but his respirations, or whatever they might be called in dragonfly language, was too rapid for me and soon I found myself hyperventilating...so I stopped.

I've always considered dragonflies a good omen for me personally. They seem to show up right when major changes are occurring in my life. A few years ago I was experiencing a similar event that I am currently working through and as I sat at the lake near my home, journaling and praying, a whole herd of dragonflies, like 20 or 30 of them, hovered an armslenth away from me, like little helicopters. They stayed their position quite a long time before they took off, returning again and again, seemingly to check on me.

Very cool.

Bring on the dragonflies...