Ladybug! Ladybug!
Fly away home.
Your house is on fire.
And your children all gone.
- Nursery rhyme
The paths of Pinnacle Mountain were full last Saturday afternoon of guys and kids and dogs and ladies.
Oh, and ladybugs, which outnumbered us all.
I had come upon the swarm about half way up, on the southwest side. I stood as they landed on me, first one, then five, then a hundred. Two ladies of the human variety came upon me, and one of them said, “Do you know you’re covered in ladybugs?”
“It happens to me everywhere I go,” I told her, as the best liked of the insect family began to cover her as well. (To be fair, rolly pollies and butterflies would garner a lot of popularity votes, too.)
The human lady slipped, which was likely fatal to many of the coccinellidae that covered her padded derriere.
Red-faced, she picked herself up and moved on, down toward the base and all the low-dwelling bugs that waited.
I moved back toward the main trail, and the further I got, the less I was accompanied by my cute flying friends, save one I felt climbing up my chest, inside of my shirt. I shook her out and looked behind me to the magical swarm dancing through the sun’s rays. You aren’t supposed to kill a ladybug, you know; it’s bad luck, which didn’t bode well for the woman I’d seen fall.
Soon, two more ladies, humans again, headed to the swarm, and I warned them but they pressed on.
Perhaps they know that certain cultures believe seeing a ladybug brings good luck. Pawnation.com says contact with ladybugs may bring romance, good weather, or financial success. They went on to tell that whatever a ladybug lands on will be replaced with an improved version. But I don’t feel any different.
Also, the ladybug’s distinctive spots are thought to be symbolic. In the Middle Ages, European Christian societies believed the beetle’s spots (yep, they are in the beetle family) represented the Seven Sorrows of Mary. After the farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary for protection, ladybugs supposedly appeared to defend their crops. The farmers called the bugs “Beetles of Our Lady,” which evolved into “ladybugs” – hence a reference to the Virgin Mary.
When I got back from the mountain, I told KM about what I’d seen, and she also said I’d have good luck. Then, two days later,I found a great deal on a car for our daughter.
So, if you need a bit of good fortune to come your way, head to the mountain; they’re waiting.
As for the car, we bought a 2009 Honda CRV. It has 113,000 miles, but someone told me you can put like a million miles on a Honda. Seriously, the first person we talked to during the car-buying day said he just bought one with 150,000 miles for his son. That was my mechanic, which made me feel good. Then someone said they always drove their Hondas over 200,000 miles. Then a girl KM works with said she goes for 300,000.
Back in 2011, CBS did a story from Norway, Maine, about a guy who recently passed the 999,999-mile mark on his 1990 Honda Accord, which he’d nicknamed “True Blue.” And if he still has the car, there isn’t any way to tell the mileage, as it rolls after 999,999. Honda was so proud of the guy, they had a parade for him and gave him a new Accord.Wonder if he has lots of ladybugs up there in Maine?
Maybe the next car I buy will be red with black dots.