When I was a kid, (it seems most of these posts start with that phrase. I need a different opening. Perhaps, when I was a wee lad or maybe back when I was knee high to a grasshopper. Better still, Once Upon A Time. I don’t think anyone has used that one.) Okay, Once upon a time…when I was a kid(*sigh* old habits die hard), nothing was more joyful than summertime. Endless days to do whatever you wanted and time enough to forget all that useless stuff we learned in school.
For me, there were several key markers which served as the official start of Summer. Alice Coopers, “School’s Out” blaring on the radio was the favorite when I was in Junior High, but when I was a wee lad(hah! I got it that time), nothing signaled the summer season like catching lightning bugs at sunset. Sure the scientific explanation for those glowing fireflies would be: Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism. Its name is a hybrid word, originating from the Greek bios for “living” and the Latinlumen “light”. Bioluminescence is a naturally occurring form of chemiluminescence where energy is released by a chemical reaction in the form of light emission.
But, when I was eight, it was sheer magic. We would run around the yard and cup our hands gently capturing the glowing insects and sometimes we would place a few in a jar thus creating a sort of living lantern. Quite often, it was simply enough to just stand in one place and trace the flight of those tiny insects as their distinctive green glow painted the night time sky.
These days, Summer has very little appeal to me other than as an opportunity to earn enough money to get through Winter. We work 7 days a week here at “Blast” and often until nine o’clock or later. But, the other night, I was standing in my back yard and noticed a few lightning bugs flitting about. For a brief moment, I was eight years old again and Summertime was magical. Had one ventured close enough, I probably would have captured it. Of course, eventually I would have had to let it go much in the manner that I had to let go of my childhood. Fortunately, that night I learned that fireflies and childhood are two things I may always recapture, if only very briefly.
This guy is much more impressive at night
I was just counting fireflies this past Sunday with Georgie. We were on the back deck trying not to be bitten up by Staten Island mutant mosquitos. Good times!