Last week on my weekly voyage to and from visiting my family something strange happened. OK, it wasn’t all that strange really. It’s just something that happened. It’s not that big a deal when you think about but for some reason it has stayed with me. See, now I’ve built it up and there is no way it can live up to the hype so please accept my apology in advance for the rather anti-climactic nature of this post. I’ll just get to it.
On my way to SoCal from here in Fresno last Thursday, I noticed that I had picked up a stow-away. A fly was buzzing around in my car as I trekked south on the 99. So, like the genius I am I swatted at it in futility before finally giving up and opening my window in the hopes that it would fly out. Those hopes would be shattered before my very eyes. After a few attempts at this, (each of them unsuccessful), I gave up. It’s not that I’m a quitter or anything; I just came to the conclusion that I needed to wait and chose my moment wisely. When my tiny six-legged enemy wouldn’t see it coming. Stupid you say? Unbelievably moronic even? Perhaps you’re right. But it’s a four-hour drive and I have to entertain myself somehow.
Much to my disappointment, the moment never came. The fly never came back up to the front seat to bother me. I could see in my mirror buzzing around in the cargo area of my Buick Rendezvous so I knew he was still there. He just had the presence of mind to avoid a confrontation with someone that so much higher up on the food chain. Smart fly. When I finally arrived at my destination in SoCal I opened the door and the fly zipped past me beating me out of the car and buzzed away never to be seen again. Or so I thought.
As I drove off back to Fresno on Saturday I noticed I had yet another freekin’ fly in my car. Once again I opened the windows in futility and the insect, refusing to exit the vehicle, ended up making the whole trip with me. But as I junctioned, (that’s not really a word), from the westbound 210 to the 5 north a thought occurred to me. “What if it’s the same fly?” What if I was merely transportation for this fly’s weekend getaway to Southern California? The thought sent me reeling. I began to respect the fly a great deal. Yes, I realize how stupid that sounds but hear me out.
According to Wikipedia, the average life span of a housefly from egg to death is about 15-22 days. It takes about 10 of these days to mature into an “adult” housefly. This means that an adult fly has only about a week or so of activity before it dies of natural causes; if it makes it that far. So this particular fly decided to spend 3 of it’s approximately 7 days in beautiful Southern California. He wasn’t going to just live an average, mundane housefly lifestyle. He wanted to go places and have different experiences. I wonder if his fly family tried to stop him and explain that he should just live like the rest of the houseflies. But he wasn’t going to have any part of that.
I wonder if he went home to his fly family and told them about the humidity in SoCal and about all the Bar-B-Ques he experienced. Freshly grilled meat just sitting out waiting to be…landed on. I wonder if he met any other flies in SoCal and learned to windsurf the coastal ocean breezes. I wonder if he met a girl-fly and had an affair. Or even a horsefly or bee or something because, what happens in SoCal, stays in SoCal. Yes I began to admire the fly for not wasting his 7 days just buzzing around horse crap like all the other Fresno flies.
So as I always try to do I thought to myself, “God, are you trying to tell me something here? Am I supposed to learn something from this?” He answered me with such a tone of pity. “John. Sometimes there’s just a fly in your car, man.” Hmmmmm. Suddenly the fly didn’t seem so noble to me.
On my way to SoCal from here in Fresno last Thursday, I noticed that I had picked up a stow-away. A fly was buzzing around in my car as I trekked south on the 99. So, like the genius I am I swatted at it in futility before finally giving up and opening my window in the hopes that it would fly out. Those hopes would be shattered before my very eyes. After a few attempts at this, (each of them unsuccessful), I gave up. It’s not that I’m a quitter or anything; I just came to the conclusion that I needed to wait and chose my moment wisely. When my tiny six-legged enemy wouldn’t see it coming. Stupid you say? Unbelievably moronic even? Perhaps you’re right. But it’s a four-hour drive and I have to entertain myself somehow.
Much to my disappointment, the moment never came. The fly never came back up to the front seat to bother me. I could see in my mirror buzzing around in the cargo area of my Buick Rendezvous so I knew he was still there. He just had the presence of mind to avoid a confrontation with someone that so much higher up on the food chain. Smart fly. When I finally arrived at my destination in SoCal I opened the door and the fly zipped past me beating me out of the car and buzzed away never to be seen again. Or so I thought.
As I drove off back to Fresno on Saturday I noticed I had yet another freekin’ fly in my car. Once again I opened the windows in futility and the insect, refusing to exit the vehicle, ended up making the whole trip with me. But as I junctioned, (that’s not really a word), from the westbound 210 to the 5 north a thought occurred to me. “What if it’s the same fly?” What if I was merely transportation for this fly’s weekend getaway to Southern California? The thought sent me reeling. I began to respect the fly a great deal. Yes, I realize how stupid that sounds but hear me out.
According to Wikipedia, the average life span of a housefly from egg to death is about 15-22 days. It takes about 10 of these days to mature into an “adult” housefly. This means that an adult fly has only about a week or so of activity before it dies of natural causes; if it makes it that far. So this particular fly decided to spend 3 of it’s approximately 7 days in beautiful Southern California. He wasn’t going to just live an average, mundane housefly lifestyle. He wanted to go places and have different experiences. I wonder if his fly family tried to stop him and explain that he should just live like the rest of the houseflies. But he wasn’t going to have any part of that.
I wonder if he went home to his fly family and told them about the humidity in SoCal and about all the Bar-B-Ques he experienced. Freshly grilled meat just sitting out waiting to be…landed on. I wonder if he met any other flies in SoCal and learned to windsurf the coastal ocean breezes. I wonder if he met a girl-fly and had an affair. Or even a horsefly or bee or something because, what happens in SoCal, stays in SoCal. Yes I began to admire the fly for not wasting his 7 days just buzzing around horse crap like all the other Fresno flies.
So as I always try to do I thought to myself, “God, are you trying to tell me something here? Am I supposed to learn something from this?” He answered me with such a tone of pity. “John. Sometimes there’s just a fly in your car, man.” Hmmmmm. Suddenly the fly didn’t seem so noble to me.
Let me encourage you; always look for the deeper meaning and listen for the message God is trying to convey with each life experience. But don’t be so zealous to see it that you end up admiring a housefly that haphazardly found it’s way into your car. That’s just stupidity posing as wisdom. And quite frankly, it’s kind of embarrassing.
1 comment:
Domo for the messege! It really was like an interesting movie you think you know the end of. Then it just 'dies on the asteroid' on ya!
:D
-srvnt
(and yes, i'm gonna read every last one. You take the time, i might as well pay some respect)
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