Recall the Moment

Life is chaos. The times I have been completely at ease, content in being where I am with no rush or disturbance knocking at my door, are few and far between. Sometimes that utter euphoria lasts seconds, or minutes, or just an hour or two.

It’s nice to have those moments where I forget who I am or that I even exist. Sometimes I wish I could never come out of the moment and stay transfixed forever so all of my life’s problems could stop for good.

Today I sat on a bench in a park surrounded by lush greenery watching dragonflies zooming by overhead. It was easy to imagine that they could have been playing with each other. No, I reconsidered. They are hunting.

I don’t know anything about dragonfly behavior, except for the one dragonfly I saw perched on the clothesline in my backyard last week. It looked fully grown and its wingspan was quite impressive. I got close enough to look at its eyes which seemed to stare back at me. It briefly took off into the air twice. I didn’t understand why until the second time it landed back on the clothesline.

A quiet crunching sound reached my ears then. I had heard it the first time, too, except the noise didn‘t fully register in my mind. I glanced over, and to my amazement, the dragonfly’s mouth was moving. Squinting, I saw the small incisors working on devouring a small bug. Later a Google search would tell me that dragonflies are avid eaters of mosquitoes.

The many dragonflies in the park were great to watch. They were to faraway for me to see their colors, but I liked the unpredictability of where they would fly to next. It was a guessing game. I got lost in the moment and for a while I felt like only a pair of eyes witnessing and observing. If only I could feel that calm all the time. If I face difficulty next time, would it help to recall that moment of peace, even if the memory will never be as good as the firsthand experience that is already passed?