Firefly

I am sitting here this morning watching as the rain pours out of the sky and thunder shakes my house and I am wondering--where is spring?  In California where I am originally from spring would start in March and was pretty much over by May--then the heat of summer would begin.  However, in Northeast Ohio spring starts in May and ends in June.  There is 2 months of it and 2 months of summer and then 2 months of fall.  The rest is winter. Now, I am learning the rhythm of the seasons of Chicagoland.  I think spring starts a little earlier here--maybe in April.  I'm not yet sure when it ends.  Maybe June--we'll see.

All this weather and thinking of the seasons has brought something to mind. Fireflies.  They mean summer.  At least they used too when we lived in Ohio. That's where I saw my first.  My husband was so excited for me to see one, he'd seen his first while on a business trip in Ohio.  He called me long distance back in California to tell me all about them.  It was hard for me to imagine.  A little bug that lights up? Big deal.  But, it was a big deal to him--he couldn't wait for our family to get moved and settled in and then he patiently waited for summer to come so that he could show me my first firefly.  Unfortunately for him, we moved just at the beginning of winter so he had months to wait for the big day!

And then one evening as the cool spring evenings turned into warm summer nights we went on a walk through the neighborhood.  It was dusk.  Neighbors were settling in for the night.  Some sprinklers were going, a few porch lights were being turned on, kids were putting their bikes away--and that's when it happened.  I saw one.  A tiny little flash of a light and then it went out.  My husband got so excited.  And as the night grew darker and more and more of the little lightning bugs appeared, the more excited my husband became.  He started chasing them.  Upon neighbors front lawns, almost to their front doors, hands and arms waving wildly as he yelled to me--do you see them, do you see them?


Oh, I saw them all right, and so did everyone else.  He was causing quite a commotion.  I looked up and saw an old woman standing in her doorway. She was looking at my husband with the strangest look--like he was crazy. The sight of her looking at him and the sight of him with his arms waving like a crazy person was almost too much for me to handle.  I keeled over right there on her front lawn and laughed hysterically.  What a night. Fireflies and a crazy man all at once.  It was the best night ever.  Now, I can't even look at or think about a firefly without also seeing that woman's expression and my husbands waving arms in my mind.  It's a great mental picture and a great memory.

I love memories.  Good memories.  Fun memories.  I hope I have a lot more.  As I wait for the fireflies.