The Dragonfly

Last Wednesday, after we had an unexpected May snowshower, Kevin and I were on the way home from preschool. Kevin was balancing on the edge of the sidewalk, when he suddenly stopped and pointed to something in the ditch. “Come here, Mom,” he said.

So, I went to look. Floating in the icy ditch water was a dragonfly. It was on its back, and its legs were curled tightly to its belly.  “Aw,” I said, “that’s too bad.”

After a moment though, I decided to pull it out of the water anyway. No dragonfly deserves to be left floating in water. Also, I just wanted to make sure it was really dead.

I gently removed it from the water with a stick. After a moment, I could have sworn I saw it move its head from side-to-side. So, I picked it up, and cupped it gently in my hands. I was hoping that warming it up would help it recover. On the way home, it remained fairly rigid, though at one point it felt like the tail flexed. I couldn't be sure though, because the wind was blowing. That might have made the dragonfly seem to move.

However, by the time we got home, the legs were reacting to being touched. So, I eased a stick under its legs and felt relieved when they all began to move. Soon, the dragonfly was sitting on the stick.  I stuck it in a jar, hoping that being inside the warmer house would revive it.

When Grig got home a few hours later, I pulled the dragonfly out, and was pleased to see that it was still gripping the branch. It still seemed sluggish, but it wasn't lying on the bottom of the jar, either. As Grig took the bug in his and and I took pictures, it suddenly took off and flew for the glass doors. It was pretty cold outside, so we caught it and put it back in the jar. We didn't want to let it go and have it freeze to death immediately.

Thursday afternoon, during the warmest part of the day, I took it out again. As I held it on my hand, its wings were vibrating, and it seemed alert. I took it outside, and in a few moments, it flew off my hands and quickly disappeared from sight. It made my day to see it fly away.

Our foster care stuff has hit a bit of a snag. The medical exam that they want us to undergo seems at this moment to be completely out of our reach. It took us a while to even find someone who does this kind of examination, and once we found someone, they quoted us a price that is way more than we can currently afford. So, we're not sure what to do next. We're going to keep calling around to see if we can find it at a better price, but if not, we may be unable to complete the process.

I was pretty frustrated for a few days. I don't like to blog when I'm frustrated or stressed, because I'd rather be a bit of sunlight on someone's internet page than another rainstorm.

I think I feel better about things though. We're doing all we can, and if this isn't meant to work out, than it won't. We would love to help foster kids, and we'll do everything we can to become certified foster parents, so if it doesn't work out, it won't be because we didn't do our best.

Sometimes you can't give up on something even when it seems like it's already dead.

At least, that's what I learned from a dragonfly.