WHY WE USE A DRAGONFLY

How many times have you heard the story of the butterfly emerging from its cocoon? Hundreds of times. Don’t get me wrong. I love a good butterfly story. It’s a great metaphor for growth and transformation. But all this time, the dragonfly has been quietly undergoing a most remarkable metamorphosis. Here’s what happens.

Most of the dragonfly’s life is spent underwater. We think of the dragonfly and we think of a groovy, tattoo-inspiring insect that can fly in six directions and doesn’t take guff from anyone. But first, these wonderful dragonflies spend some serious time underwater. Not that they don’t have fun while they’re there. The dragonfly’s underwater form is called a nymph. The nymph is a busy little creature. It spends most of its time using its extendable jaws to catch tiny aquatic animals. Nymphs breathe thorough gills in their rectum, and can rapidly propel themselves by suddenly expelling water. The nymph has a lifespan of up to five years. That’s five years of gulping down aquatic animals and propelling themselves at lighting speeds around a mucky pond. But eventually, after spending most of its life underwater, the nymph is prompted to emerge from its watery existence and crawls onto a reed, above the water’s surface. Once situated on the reed, the nymph is exposed to air for the first time.

This exposure causes the nymph to begin breathing. How awesome is that? From water to air, adapting itself to each environment. But it gets even better. How that the nymph has transitioned to its new surroundings, Its skin splits at a weak spot behind the head and an adult dragonfly crawls out.

No more being stuck underwater chasing after tiny bugs. How this baby can fly. It can fly forwards, backwards, up, down, and side to side. It can even stay still in midair. It can cruise the world, at about 15-20 miles per hour, in all its dragonfly glory, gulping up midges and flies along the way. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the dragonfly can never return to its watery home and spends just a small portion of its life in this stage before going off to Dragonfly heaven. But what a life!

The Native American tribes believe the dragonflies represent swiftness, activity and change. In Japan, dragonflies are symbols of courage, strength and happiness. Tiffany & Co. often used dragonflies in their art and jewelry. Motorcycles have been named after dragonflies and many peoples around the world have dragonfly tattoos. You can read about dragonflies in poetry and literature. Almost everyone loves the beautiful, iridescent, carefree dragonfly.

So why did I choose the dragonfly for my logo? The dragonfly represents to me how life should be. We work hard most of our lives, we are that little nymph, sucking in air and propelling ourselves as fast as we can, gulping up little bugs as we go. Then one day we say enough and we crawl onto that reed and start to breath air for the first time. The last portion of our lives should be like the dragonfly, free to spread our wings and fly. Go places we have never been before, do things we have never done. Be glorious and inspire artist and poets. We should be free of all the many reasonability’s that have tired us down. Now is the time to downsize our homes and unburden yourselves from the things we hold onto. Now is the time to leave those reasonability’s of mowing the grass, fixing the plumbing, or painting the house to someone else. Now is the time to be carefree and enjoy all that life can offer. Now is the time for change.