Last week, walking along sand by the Sandy River with a group of parents and kids, we came across the tracks of a praying mantis, and then saw her. Actually we thought she was a he until I posted photos later; someone replied that the tracks were atypical, made by a female filled with eggs, dragging her abdomen along the sand. That made both the tracks and the encounter more personal for me, less remote. Now I could really relate to that shape of the belly drag. I have two daughters and immediately recalled the sensations of late pregnancy, the slowness and heaviness and dra-a-a-a-a-g. I imagined feeling that weight while crawling on all fours across sand, dragging my belly beneath me. This is the first time tracks really got me imagining and feeling stuff, so I wanted to share. Fun!
That’s beautiful I somehow missed this Mindy!