Just after midnight, I was sitting at my computer, noding. The room was lit by a couple of dim lamps; the monitor was the brightest thing around. Node node node, read read read, node node, read. I was absorbed by Everything. Completely focused on it.

In a split second, a large moth fluttered halfway across my field of vision and came to rest square in the middle of my monitor. It sat there, motionless. I paused.

Normally, to me, a moth is just an annoyance to be dealt with, something to be swatted away from my face as its frantic circling around the porch light is interrupted by my attempt to enter the house. In the moment that followed its appearance, I actually took notice of a moth as a creature, maybe for the first time in my life.

I saw its perfectly formed wings, and the delicate, feathery feelers on its head.

I got up, turned off the monitor, turned off all the lights in the room, and turned on the outside light. I walked to the door (which is right next to the computer) and opened it. The moth didn't move. I gave it a nudge with my finger, and it flew in drunken, dizzying loops out the door and towards the lights.

I closed the door, turned off the light, turned off my computer, and went to bed.

Thanks, moth.