Releasing Bats

It is dusk, in a clearing near woods, and the lake. The sky is blue, sun is setting, bugs are humming, and birds are flying. Light is cascading softly through the leaves of all the trees. The soft wind brushes off the warmth of the longer days of mid-May.

I am carrying port-o-bugs, mesh pop-up, zippered containers with bats in them. I wish a long, joyful, life to each bat as I reach in the port-o-bug, and take one at a time, releasing it, into the air. Carefully, I watch to be certain each maintains proper altitude, and flying ability, ready to recapture it, and rehab it more, if necessary. As one is flying well, I release another, and so on, until all are gone. This is the moment in which I wish all my rescues would culminate; release and freedom to be the bats they were born to be.

It is in this moment, that I am grateful for having the chance to help them, touch their lives, and even more grateful that they have touched mine. This instant is a melting pot of emotions; elation, sadness, fear, and relief. I have done my part. Like all rehabbers, I realize that I cannot save every one, but by doing what I can, I enrich the life of each bat I help, as my life is also enriched.