the magic of fireflies

this post is really from my experience on june 19th while on a break during class. the time was close to 9pm, yet it wasn't entirely dark yet. I walked to a ledge and lit a cigarette and noticed an abundance of fireflies. I marveled over them and came to the realization that I hadn't seen lightning bugs in quite a long time. Not a long time as in seasons, but as in years. I wondered if there had just been less of them or if I had stopped noticing these little fairy lights lingering, floating in the night air. I really believe that there are just less of them, who knows, let's blame it on Global Warming, that is the hip thing to do!! Either way, the point of all of this is that I became sad for a moment thinking that perhaps I stopped being aware of the magic that is lightning bugs. They couldn't have all just disappeared for the last few years? Could they? And if they did, well that is doubly sad, because imagine all of the people in the world missing out on some of the most amazing creatures to allow us to share the planes of earth. I knelt down on the ledge and saw two lightning bugs on a plant leaf. They seemed to be having a jovial affair, blinking at me staring from nearby. I continued to walk through a grassy patch in front of the building, in a stop-time kind of awe that transported me to the kinds of memories that can't be described because they are more of a phenomena--an epiphany. I looked at the fireflies as if I was a child again. Summer breeze tickling my face with a wisp of my hair. A wide-eyed, agape stare--I became enchanted by the twinkling of tiny stars that I swore I could touch. And I remembered how cruel it was when other children would crush them. I never so much as wanted to interfere with the divine--so I wouldn't even grab at them. The moment became a silent Proustian moment that transported me to an emotional place that connected me with many versions of myself throughout the years-- and I felt whole, yet fresh and new--I later walked to me car with eyes in the air, searching out little moments of magic floating around me.

For anyone who reads this, find an image that reminds you of the comfortable feeling of childhood. The part that is still in you somewhere. Perhaps when you first realized how large nature really is, and how magic is not too far from home.