Getting lucky

I walked to the beach before work this morning and noticed a ladybug on the sweater I was holding. I picked the ladybug up and let it fly away and looked down to notice two more ladybugs on my skirt…and another one on my shirt. And another one struggling in the sand. Then several others also struggling in the sand. I picked up the couple I could reach and put them on my skirt with the others to take them over to the grass on my way back, puzzled at why so many ladybugs would be hanging out so far away from solid ground. The sand was clearly not a medium they were adept at walking on and we (the ladybugs and I) were pretty close to the tide on a big dune.

Had they been cartoony singing bluebirds perched on me it would have been so Cinderella, but they were actual silent ladybugs and I was barefoot on the sand and the waves were blue and white and lazy and quiet and a tern was poking around the edge of the surf and no people were around.

After a time, I walked over the crest of the dune, down the other side across the sand and over to the dirt path. One by one, I removed my little passengers. One chose the ground and the others flew away.