Trail's End Week 14 2021

The cicadas are coming. Brood X emerges every 17 years from their underground domiciles, and they are emerging here in Northern Virginia, D.C., and Southern Maryland. Oh goodie. As if moving to a new part of the country in the middle of winter and an endless pandemic was not enough to create dissonance in my life, we are going to add millions of flying bugs whose mating calls can be measured at over 90 decibels. That is the sound of a motorcycle revving from 25 feet away and it just goes on and on and on. This charming bit of ecology will occur for approximately 4 weeks in late May/early June, so I am currently counting my blessings that I am fully vaccinated so that I can get out of Dodge quickly if I need to. (Should you wish to learn more about these creatures I am including a link to a Washington Post article that will tell you more than you might like to know.)

It turns out that more than the cicadas are coming. Hilary kindly informed us the other day that we need to leave our outdoor fountain running all the time in the summer; the mosquitoes will find that a perfect breeding ground otherwise. Also she mentioned that the climate in the summer reflects two temperatures ~ the temperature the thermometer registers and the "feels like" temperature. I already knew that to be true from winter here. The thermometer read in the thirties many mornings but it felt like the twenties or the teens. Apparently, according to Hilary, it might be in the eighties in the summer but feel like the hundreds. But my hair will curl and my skin will be lovely (also according to Hilary).

What an opportunity this offers me to hone my newly refined skills of rolling with the punches and embracing the lack of predictability in life. So far life has been one long lesson of grabbing control when I can and letting go of that idea with no warning at all. Lately I have come to realize that just as I start to feel settled and comfortable in some part of my life (early adulthood, marriage, parenthood, later adulthood, etc.) something shifts. It always does. Think about parenting. The minute you figured out your baby's nap and meal schedule, it shifted. Just when you were finding your child becoming a sweet and thoughtful human being, adolescence hit. And then, just as you are discovering the sweet spot of becoming friends with your adult children, they move to another coast.

Perhaps the wisdom that comes with age is the realization of the real limits of the sense of agency we feel in life. True I had complete control over moving to Virginia; it was completely my choice. But if I hadn't I would have so little control over how often I would get to spend time with the most important people in my life. Though since moving, I experience a deep longing to see those other very important people in my life who live in California. Yin yang. It seems to always be about finding balance and doing those small incremental adjustments to keep that balance. Or maybe trying out a giant adjustment every now and then. Cicadas be damned!