Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Cause I'd get a thousand hugs from ten million lightning bugs...


Wow. It has been nearly a month since I've updated. So much has gone on- Memphis swallowing a needle, World Steam Expo, meeting Chris Hardwicke, my birthday... but what has me completely enraptured right now are tiny insects with bio luminescence.

As you probably know, since most of you are in the state currently, California doesn't have fireflies. I've searched the internet, and there doesn't seem to be any good reason for it, either. Some say it could be too dry for them. I've lived in Oregon during the summer, and stayed in Washington for a week in the summer and they don't have any fireflies. They're not the driest states ever, so why don't they have any? Whatever the reason, I have grown up firefly-less.

Now, I have seen plenty of movies and TV shows, and heard a lot songs that mention the little bugs. They have a certain symbolism in my head of serenity (ha, so many Firefly jokes in here...), of classic childhoods I wasn't in the right place or time to have. Fireflies are very antique to me, nostalgic. Lightning bugs are what grandmas and grandpas talk about to their children's children when they speak of how they grew up "way back when." Fireflies aren't something modern children get to enjoy. They were only of an era long past.

So to my surprise, as you can imagine, last July I had a heart attack over the little balls of light in the grass as Crysta and I sat in her car waiting for a phone call. Crysta, probably thinking I was nuts, told me they were fireflies. I proceeded to freak out more. Fireflies? REALLY? they exist? They're not just made up be the media? I was overjoyed at the thought. Had there not been a thunderstorm on the horizon, I would've been out of the car and in the field.

But I left Michigan and came back to California, and to my lightning bug-less life. I forgot about them. I visited again in October, but summer was long gone and so were the fireflies.

Then, in April, I moved to Michigan to finish school. And now it is the end of June, and the first day of summer. Man, were those fireflies on top of it! They showed up for the first time last night- just boys, out early and lookin' for love. Crysta came in and nonchalantly said there were fireflies out! And that it must be summer.

And I freaked. FIREFLIES! Finally! I get to see them again! Not only that, but I get to live with them! So we went out to our little courtyard and she caught the teeny bugs while I took pictures and video. I went back out tonight to feed the little lost kitty that lives by the park, and to take more pictures of the only bugs I will ever like. There are so many more out tonight! I took a few videos and just stood and watched. Had it not been lightning I would've stayed out there for a lot longer.

I am completely enamoured by Fireflies. They represent so much to me that I can't even find words for. I'm in awe of the things, and all they do is glow and have sex (not a bad life, really). But seeing them flitting around the courtyard, or the park... I'm stuck there. Crysta said it's like a Toreador, and I'm inclined to agree. Just like they could stare at a painting until the sun burned them to ashes... I could stare at a group of fireflies until dawn. They make me more appreciative of where I am, and why I'm here.

Summer won't be such a bad thing with them around. If I get lonely, all I have to do is walk out my back door and stand in the midst of fireflies.