Goodbye moths

Mom says that if a moth lingers around your house, it's a sign that you are getting a visitor.

God knows when I started having a liking for moths and butterflies. I don't remember myself, but I know it's been a very long time... The butterflies drawn all over my diaries from then, and a moth-adorned tee I've been wearing since 2009 being some of the many proof of this obsession.

When people were tweeting about seeing moths everywhere, I got mad at how everyone reacted to them negatively, thinking they were bothersome and disgusting. It infuriated me; humans are way more disgusting than those little winged critters.

I was also saddened by the fact that I hadn't seen any for myself. A few weeks passed and I still hadn't caught sight of even one, despite how I looked hard everywhere, careful not to miss a chance of seeing any.

The first time I saw a moth was right outside my Pasir Ris house, just as I was leaving for Paya Lebar. I stared at it for a good 3 minutes, just admiring it and wondering of the things it'd seen and gone through before it got there. It looked so gorgeous up there on the wall, I felt like I spent so long looking for it that I totally underestimated its beauty.

It took me a while to see another moth; this one greeted me at the doorstep of my Pasir Ris home on the first day of Ramadan. I noticed one of its wings was bent at a weird angle [uhm yeah, when I said stare, I really do stare at moths, enough for me to notice that small detail] and it was having difficulty flying.

The last time I saw one of those moths was this morning. This one could not fly at all. Its wings were fluttering like crazy but it barely lifted off the ground. Instead it 'crawled' across the floor; it looked so pathetic and sad, but I knew I couldn't do anything for it.

The state of each moth I'd seen grew increasingly pathetic. The next time I'd see it would probably be never because moth season is going to be over.

By now, everyone else has stopped talking about moths. They're noticed for a while, only to disappear and be forgotten again. I'll always remember moths, even when their pretty counterparts, butterflies, are always around to admire. As dull as they look, they're just beautiful as their own.