Noticing the Silliness of Nature

by Sandy Swegel

Nature’s such a goofball. Friday afternoon I was busy carrying the weight of the world. My mom has become bedbound. My dog has pancreas problems and has to eat and poop every two hours. I broke a tooth and there was nothing for dinner because I forgot to go to the grocery. You know the kind of day.

So I took the poodle for a quick walk at a nearby lake. The dog ran free and I look at wildflowers. As we hiked there was a crazy flash of yellow all around. I tried to see what it was but by the time I looked, it was gone. The dog jumped at one of the yellow flashes. A few feet further and there were more…and then I understood. The sulfur butterflies had just migrated in. Everywhere tiny Sulphurs were frenetically flying in great swoops or zig-zagging so fast I couldn’t catch a picture. They had just filled up on the nectar of a field of bright yellow wildflowers and now were wildly playing in a sugar rush of joy and delight. What goofballs I thought. How am I supposed to be depressed and downtrodden when natures goofballs are flittering all over?

As if that wasn’t enough joy, we came upon the lake and it looked like it was Labrador dog day at the lake. No less than seven labs were there bouncing in and out of the water chasing imaginary sticks or biting at the water. Labs are definitely the goofballs of the dog kingdom.

It was all just too silly so I forgot about impending deaths and money worries. Butterflies and labs are here to tell us that life is to be enjoyed like silly goofballs.