Traveling every week for work, I often feel like my life is being robbed from me 4 days at a time. I spend 4/7 of my week away from home. Home, too, is a funny word, being that I just moved this past Sunday. Feeling the fatigue of that move, I was in a rush to the airport on Monday. Having performed this routine more than I'd care to admit, I get through security in record time to grab an iced coffee before boarding my flight. The flight attendant hurries me to my seat and closed the door behind me. In dire need of a jolt, I stab the straw into my coffee, and as I do so, a fly lands on my arm. My world stops.
This fly somehow made its way from whatever trashcan it was born in, flew into the airport, then down the jetbridge, and onto the airplane! This NYC fly unknowingly flew onto a flight, a flight that willl take him away from his family for the rest of his life. The thought of that made me question the lifespan of a fly. When I looked it up when I got to work, a sense of mourning overcame me. The fly only has 2 days to live.
The world spun and I questioned how I would live my life if I only had 2 days. A whole series of "what if's" flood my brain. Procreation is an obvious thought in a mere 48 hours, but rational thoughts of the normal size housefly and the amount of time that it would require to add the mass from infant to adult fly. Further research was necessary. A different source listed more info: "Predators and other factors reduce it down to 2 days, otherwise in a safe environement a fly can live 8 days to 2 months, depending on the species."
2 lessons...
Live Life
&
Do your homework