Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Dragonflies: My New Totem


Dragonflies zipped and zoomed across the lawn momentarily halting their race to hover.  What are dragonflies doing when they hover? Are they feeding? Stopping to chat? Surveying the next racing circuit? Whatever they were doing, for me they were like friendly, frantic sentries welcoming me to campus, my campus. My new campus.

I am a college student again.  A college coed? There really should be a word for a coed over 50.  And where did that term come from anyway? Was it for a female student once universities were integrated and allowed women?  What were male students? Boy-eds? How about an experienced coed….perhaps not the connotations I’m looking for. Perhaps, a seasoned coed…good for someone going back to culinary school maybe  Ok…how about just plain student.  A student of learning. A student of life returning to an institution of learning.

I got a rush handling my new Student ID.  The last time I had one would have been in March 1980 when I was graduating from UCI’s School of Adminstration,  32 years ago?  It’s just a  piece of laminated plastic with my smiling happy face.  But it represents a whole new phase of life, a course adjustment, a future.  Funny how such a small, humble thing can represent something so important.

Dragonflies are symbols of good luck and good fortune some say.  So I take it to be auspicious that I walked into my orientation under a canopy of lacy wings. Dragonflies are insects of such grace and beauty in motion but with great power and precision.  On close inspection they are a mixture of beautiful wings and somewhat homely faces  who delight in the air and repose in the sun.  My new totem for my new life. 

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