When I was a teenager a boy i liked gave me a book that identified all the moths and butterflies in North America. I obsessively looked through the book over and over, flipping through pages, building up the the climax page which held the huge mysterious lunar moth....( akin to probably teenage boys when they got to the centerfold of their dad's dirty magazines.)The Lunar Moth, i thought, was the most beautiful moth on the planet (not counting the ones in Madagascar) and I identified with it's ghostly quality and the fact that it stood out like a sore thumb. It very obviously wasn't like all the other moths or even the butterflies.
People would ask what animal I would like to be if i could be any in the world... I wanted to be a lunar moth.
I thought the chances of myself seeing one were about as good as seeing a unicorn.
Only one other time in my life have I seen a live, fully in tact Lunar Moth in real life.... and I had no idea that I would have a second chance to see one, and that it would feel completely epic also. Maybe it's cause they only live for a week, they really only come out at night when i stay inside.... i thought the last time was a flook because it had flown to a light inside that house in Big Sandy Mush during the night and got caught in a room so in the morning i got to see it.This time, i found the lunar moth on the ceiling of my front porch during the DAYtime and almost let out a squeal when i realized it was there.
Lunar Moths seem to be very laid back, easy to put a finger under and have it crawl on... like a bird that's been trained. When it crawled onto my hand, it opened it's wings and showed it's complete "headdress" of awesome-ness. It's owl eye markings, it's wide huge wings, curling tail, it's fuzz was that of a small animal. Gentle outlines of the wings, and the purple/lavender furry stripe across it's top wings looks just like velvet.
A shy face, with magenta/purple-ish legs, and a ghost white body, so white it's almost shocking this creature survives in the wilderness as it does.
It is like, i had a special visitor... one i wasn't expecting, one that's presence is so strong i start wonder if it's a sign (i know dorky, right?), that i actually got to see and hold something so important to me, something i wish for but never think will come.It makes me wonder what other wishes will come to my front porch.
XOxoxoxX
Before we lived in Hawaii, I didn't pay much attention to moths (except to keep them away from certain clothes.) Well, two days after we returned from our niece's funeral in Texas, I was standing in the kitchen - the sliding door/screen to the family room were open - to my surprise about 20 moths - HUGE brown/grey moths flew inside. They flew into the kitchen, flew around me (my first instinct was to freak out, but an inner voice said no), they they flew upstairs (I followed them) to the bedroom where my niece slept when she had visited, they returned to the family room, circled me, like a halo, and flew outside and away. I never saw them again.
ReplyDeleteAll of our neighbors were Chinese/American. That afternoon I told Verna what had happened. She grew thoughtful, then told me that the Chinese believe the soul returns in the moth I saw and that my niece had returned to tell me not to be sad (I had been crying and sad for I loved my niece very much) - Verna said the Chinese are comforted by this moth and, yes, I wouldn't see it again unti someone else died who wanted to revisit me.
So, about your moth - it's NOT the moth I saw - but Verna talked of other moths - the Lunar Moth brings good stuff - something really good is headed your way, Leslie. You've been blessed, in a strange sorta way.
We had luna moths in Arkansas and I remembered them and made a luna moth platter years later, they are very striking I never would have thought to pick one up as you did very enlightening.
ReplyDeleteKittie!
ReplyDeletethat was an amazing story, thank you so much for sharing it!
it made my day :))))
Hey Linda!
that makes me think, should paint pictures of them, that would be fun.
يمكنك الان التواصل مع اكبر شركة تنظيف بالدمام والتي تتميز بانها من اكبر الشركات التي تتبع الي مؤسسة ابراج دبي الكبري لخدمات التنظيف جميعها عن طريق ارقام الخاصة لشركة التنظيف الكبري .
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