Fireflies

I grew up in California and though I took trips out of state, I don't really recall seeing lightening bugs as a child.  When I was 21, I moved to Nashville, Tennessee.   I quickly fell in love with the city and the many ways that it was different from my native state.  One evening that fall, I was at a party with other grad students.  While everyone else drank beer and discussed whatever it is that grad students discuss, I stood outside on the deck and watched the fireflies.  I recognized them as lightning bugs because I had seen them at Disneyland, in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  Everyone else had grown up with fireflies; they saw nothing exotic in the woods.  But I was transfixed. 

This week, the lightening bugs have been thick at dusk and JT and my mom and I have sat outside to watch them.  All these years later, I still think they are magical.  JT can't ever remember a time they weren't part of his world.  But, like me 21 years ago, my mom has been charmed by the sudden flashes of light in the dark hedges of the backyard.  It's been lovely.