The softer side of Cranky
A blog/Facebook friend recently commented that she just saw Fireflies for the first time in her life. This friend has moved in the last few years from England, to California, and then to Arkansas.
Fireflies are so common here in the Northeast; it was hard to imagine that anyone has never seen them. Then I remembered the first time I saw “lightning bugs.” I lived in Southern California from age 4 to 8. When we moved back east my first firefly sighting was exciting.
We captured them and put them in a jar with holes punched in the cap to create a living flashlight. I think we later released them but I don’t remember…let’s just say that we did. The sight of thousands of fireflies in the trees at night is a truly spectacular sight that we often take for granted.
How many other marvels of nature do we gloss over until someone points them out? When I returned “back east” at eight years old, I also remember my first serious snow fall. People often dread the snow. I still am fascinated by it. A good snow storm makes me feel young again. I go right back to those days of listening to WOR and John Gambling, praying to hear that my school was closed for the day. I love to look out at the street light at night during a big storm and watch the snow fall while I am safe and warm inside. It is hard to imagine that some people have never experienced snow.
There is so much in life that I have not seen. The Aurora Borealis, an eclipse of the Sun, elephants in the wild, a painted bunting, a Super Bowl Game from the fifty yard line, a wood duck, and lately my toes in the shower. Sometimes we need to stop and enjoy the wonders we do get to experience every year that many people only dream about.
Like a good snow fall in January.
Or
Fireflies in June.
i do believe i remember this one. :) i've been seeing fireflies here the past few weeks. and not to rub it in, but painted buntings and wood ducks, too. :)
ReplyDeleteSnowfall is just mesmerising isn't it? I've never seen firefies but I have seen two eclipses of the sun - one here in the UK a few years ago and one when I was younger and we lived in Australia. I love to see the aurora borealis.
ReplyDeleteI'll pass on the snow, but I get this post. Some folks rush through life and never notice anything. I've not seen fireflies before either, but perhaps one day I will.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day. ☺
I remember how excited I was when I moved to Virginia and our yard was filled with fireflies. It was like being in a fairyland. And I was in my 30's.
ReplyDeleteI want your snow!!!
ReplyDeleteI rarely see fireflies anymore for some reason. They're just not as common here in central KY as they were in northern KY where I was raised. I miss seeing them on summer nights :)
I'd love to see fireflies but somehow doubt that I ever will now. You're right, there's just so much we take for granted forgetting that to others what we are not seeing would be a wonder of nature.
ReplyDeleteYes nothing like being a child again (or when did we really grow up)
ReplyDeleteI remember how we used to have "good light" in a room by bottling those fire flies.
I like those thoughts and agree with them!
ReplyDeleteI remember snow, although where I live now, there is almost none of it - but fire flies, oh I never saw them, I would love too!
And I don't take things for granted, never, ever! I learned not doing that!
Did not understand the toesintheshower thing ??? :-)
We called them lightning bugs too. The shitty kids tore off the lights. Sorry, but it happened.
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those people who have never seen a firefly. And I have seen my toes in the shower, but not recently.
ReplyDeleteLovely post, Joeh!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how you can go through life and become pretty old before you get to see something for the first time?
ReplyDeleteLike that blood moon eclipse back in April...never had seen one before. As I was taking pictures of it, it occurred to me that this was on my bucket list!
My once-in-a-lifetime experience (for a Texas boy) was seeing the Aurora Borealis. I was in Glacier National Park, and I'll never forget it. And yes, lightning bugs were a big part of my childhood, too. But now that I think about it, I rarely see them any more. Wonder why?
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I must admit, I STILL watch TV hoping to see my school is closed for snow. Even though we have a faculty phone tree to notify us before the public. Even though we had 21 snow days last year. They never get old. They're a special treat.
ReplyDeleteFireflies, yes. And might I add the call of the whip-poor-will, and the scent of honeysucklel?
Or Bald Eagles feeding the young in their first nest!
ReplyDeleteBTW: Joe, we did let them go!
We call them lightening bugs here. As a kid the lightening bugs were the sign that we better be back home in the yard! I don't get outta WV much which is probably most of the problem so I too have never seen the northern lights either as a matter of fact in WV if you say you saw any form of lights in the sky could easily get you labeled as cuckoo!
ReplyDeleteI never realized that fireflies were more of a North East things. They are all over here. I love them.
ReplyDeleteMy first husband was from New Mexico. We got married in Delaware as that is where my grandparents lived at the time. He had never seen fireflies either, nor the ocean. It was wonderful watching him experience something new. :)
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