Jewelry

Today marks the first day of spring, and for some, the beginning of the dreaded lovebug season. If you live in the South, especially near the Gulf of Mexico, you already know about lovebugs. If not, you’re about to find out.

Twice a year, these small flying insects take to the air by the thousands. On city streets, they’re bad enough. But on country roads or near wetlands, watch out. They decorate your car in alarming numbers, and you can’t leave them there very long because they have super-special bonding powers that can etch your paint. No kidding. And as you emerge from your car or house, they float around you, lightly settling wherever they please. I’m an expert at swishing them away.

All this is annoying, but that’s not the worst of it. They have the most embarrassing lives possible. Obviously, they take to flight to find a mate, and once they’ve found one, they “connect” (to put it delicately), and they stay connected while they fly around. I’m a big believer in privacy, and to me, this is asking a lot of any living creature.