Hmmm, how often do we fail to appreciate what lies before our eyes as the impulse to move on steals away our attention?
I am a simple man who finds pleasure in simple things. When I left work on June 26 to start a week’s vacation, I was looking forward to doing what I love most – wandering through local conservation areas in search of sun-spangled butterflies and iridescent dragonflies.
I did not expect to range much beyond an hour’s drive from home. Within that small circumference was all I needed to satisfy my heart’s desire.
Alas, fortune had other ideas. On a walk that very evening, I made the mistake of hopping over a two foot gap in the sidewalk where it had been cut open for a pipe to be run into a new building. I landed softly – but not softly enough for the liking of my chronic back.
The slight impact on my spine compressed the already impinged nerve. In an instant, my highly anticipated week of communing with nature turned into a week inside grimacing as I nursed my back. Each day I cast painful looks out the window at the splendid weather.
Lousy, rotten, crappy, terrible, awful, expletives deleted luck. As I write this post, I am preparing to return to work, a couple of days later than expected, and hoping that the weekend weather favours me for the rest of the summer.
It is probably akin to rubbing salt into my own wound. But I could not resist the temptation to check my records from last year at this time to see what I may have missed. The most notable species was the delicate, nickel-sized Acadian Hairstreak butterfly at the head of this post.
Acadian Hairstreaks are uncommon. The one in this photograph was the first I had come across in the decade or so I have been pursuing this hobby. I might not see another one for years.
But if I am fortunate enough to spot an Acadian this summer (you know I will be revisiting the spot where I found this one), I will be certain to linger awhile to enjoy its subtle graces. The serrated orange cap over the hindwing blue spot. The wandering postmedian band of black spots. The oh so delicate antennae and the tiny, easy-to-miss forked tail.
Looking back to the moment, I realize now I did not properly give praise to this little winged wonder when I happened upon it. Yes, I spent a few minutes photographing it and taking delight in the siting. But I then hurried on down the path to see how many other species I could add to my day count.
The Acadian Hairstreak is now engraved in my mind as a metaphor for the importance of seizing the day, living in the moment and pausing to admire what lies before my eyes. Life is short, fickle and unpredictable – too much so to scurry on to the next bend in the trail when the moment at hand holds such treasures.
~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog.
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Tags: Acadian Hairstreak · live in the moment · metaphor · Michael Robert Dyet · seize the dayNo Comments