I suppose it’s never too late to incarnate and transform. Just look at the lowly cicada bug. They spend 13 or 17 years (depending on their genes) lying about underground nibbling at roots before they emerge from their subterranean den, immediately molt their exoskeleton, and head off in search of a partner with which to reproduce. They’re not particularly attractive unless you’re a bug expert and they don’t seem to have any type of baggage keeping them from their mission.
It’s cicada season in Alabama. We have the 13-year variety and this year is one of the big waves. We get a few every year because some get confused, but this year there’s more than I’ve ever seen. They’re currently crawling out of the ground across the yard, porch, my laundry room. I can’t step outside without stepping onto their molted exoskeletons. They leave their creepy husks on the porches, hanging from the plants in my garden and the exterior walls of the house and shed. Some are even molting in the grass and clover. My dogs have taken to snacking on the larvae as they crawl through the yard, but they just keep coming. I am beginning to wonder if the whole swarm of locusts thing wasn’t cicadas.
My mom’s favorite weatherman, James Spann, has become the clearing house for people showing their favorite cicada-based dishes. I think that’s a little too close to crickets. No thanks. Yuck!
Fun Fact!
Cicadas are arthropods and in the same phylum as shellfish. So, if you have a shellfish allergy, best to avoid them. How do I know this? Facebook. Specifically, two really smart guys I went to high school with. One learned the shellfish fact from one of the science teachers he works with. The other one confirms that they taste like a cross between shrimp and crawfish. Being deathly allergic to shellfish, I will take their words for it.
What do cicadas have to do with massage? Well, hopefully not a lot inside the treatment room, but they do seem to be causing quite a bit of stress in my area so that could be a tie in. I find them somewhat inspirational. Stick with me. I think we could all be a bit more like the cicadas, sitting in the top of a tree screaming about what we want and ignoring all the haters.
Do something new, it’s good for your mental health! Just do it inside if you don’t like big, red-eyed flying bugs. Eek! And if the screaming is wearing on you as much as it is on me, why not try some binaural beats music to drown out the noise.
♥
Sharon Bryant at Harvest Moon Massage Therapy
is Decatur’s Ashiatsu Barefoot Massage Therapist!