Sunday, June 11, 2017

Is Beauty Ever Ordinary?






Last weekend, a friend and her youngest daughter came to visit me. Sarah, whom I met through blogging, has become a daughter to me. Age-wise she is more like a granddaughter, but the feelings of mother/daughter seem mutual. Her four children call me Grandma Dee, and that is such a gift to someone who has never had children.

Their visit delighted me in many ways, but it was two typical Missouri evenings I spent in their company that gave me something to ponder and embrace. Here’s what happened: Saturday evening, Sarah and I sat talking on the patio when suddenly she looked beyond me. The expression on her face mixed wonder and concern.

“Dee,” she said, “see those sparks by that fence? Is it on fire?”

I looked and saw that the lightning bugs were out. “Sarah,” I said, “there’re just fireflies.”

“What?”

“Fireflies. Lightning bugs.”

“I’ve never seen anything like this before!” she exclaimed. Then, “Katie, come and see the fireflies. Hurry!”

Seven-year-old Katie came running through the house, thrust open the patio door, and burst outside.

“Look!” her mother said, “Look at the fireflies!”

Katie stood still as a statue, gazing outward. When several fireflies twinkled at the same time, she yelled, “Mom! What are they?”

“Fireflies. Bugs that light up!”

As dusk became dark, Katie chased the lightning bugs. I got her a clean mayonnaise jar and punctured its lid so she could engage in the game I’d so enjoyed as a child. Her mother and I sat on the porch, watching her run from one side of the back yard to another in her excited hunt. It was like watching a ballet. She ran and leaped and twisted in the air in her attempt to capture fireflies without squashing them.




“I got another one!” she cried out as she came running to where I held the jar. Carefully, she placed the lightning bug in it and I screwed shut the lid.

For over an hour that night and the next, she became acquainted with the wonder of fireflies. The second night she caught eighteen. One by one they twinkled in the jar that she held up in the dark night.

When the lightning bugs returned to their own homes and left the yard, Katie examined her jar carefully, commenting on their red heads and their yellow tails. Finally, she screwed off the lid of the jar. Wishing them good-bye and good luck, she watched as they flew away.

Those two evenings, wonder captured her and her mother and me. Fireflies didn’t live in Idaho where their home was. They’d never before seen these wonderful bugs. Their awe prompted mine. For years, I’d seen fireflies as an adult and never felt the wonder of childhood. Katie gave that back to me.
The evening of the day they returned home, I went out into the backyard and looked up at a sky lit by stars. There, too, was a wonder I’d forgotten. So much beauty that has become so ordinary. I want to reclaim the miracles that surround me.

Peace.


Photographs from Wikipedia.

28 comments:

  1. How lovely. Lightening bugs are magic. Better than fairies.

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    1. Dear Joanne, it was a lovely time. Yes, better than fairies and right in my yard! Peace.

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  2. We all have wonderful memories in our lives; the trick is keeping them alive!!

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    1. Dear Fishducky, I do look back with joy to those childhood days when my brother and I made lightning bug lanterns and then freed them from our captivity. Peace.

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  3. It's wonderful to see things through a child's eyes --- all the wonders we take for granted become new again.

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    1. Dear Molly, yes, that's exactly right--I was seeing the fireflies through a child's eyes. Thank you for saying what I couldn't express. Peace.

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  4. Never having seen fireflies I would have been filled with awe and wonder. As I so often am. For which I am grateful.

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    1. Dear Sue, I've always, since childhood, just assumed that lightning bugs/fireflies were everywhere! And now I discover they are not in Utah or Idaho . . . or Australia! And yes, your blog postings often express your sense of awe. And that, indeed, is something for which to be grateful. Peace.

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    2. We have them up here because I saw them as a kid, but it's been many years since I've seen them living in the city and never getting out anymore. They are definitely magical! I have those memories, too, of catch and release. Sounds like a precious visit. Children do give us new eyes. :)

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    3. Dear Rita, yes, "new eyes" so true. Peace.

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  5. What a delight it had to have been to be taken back to the time you experienced your first firefly. Your post brought back memories of my fist time and how exciting it was. You were given young eyes and mind for a while through them.

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    1. Dear Patti, and I'm trying to keep those young eyes and mind as I survey my yard and my neighborhood and the world in which I live. Peace. Oh, by the way, the book I ordered by Wilder--the one with the first three books in it--came today. I wanted my own copy because her stories I think really help me keep my life in perspective and so I'm going to be rereading her in the next years. Peace again.

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  6. Wonderfully evocative post. Brings to mind not only childhood but a visit we made to Great Smokey Mountain Nation Park where we saw synchronies fireflies light up a mountain repeatedly in unison...:)

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    1. Dear Troutbirder, I've never heard of synchronies fireflies. How wonderful that must have been. So magical. Thank you for sharing this memory with me. Peace.

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  7. The beauty of nature is amazing and not ordinary at all, memories are special and can bring such joy to all

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    1. Dear Jo-Anne, I find memories so comforting especially when I experience loss and Katie helped me realize I'd lost a child's wonder within myself. peace.

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  8. Lightening Bugs are just so wonderful... ALL of us probably remember them as kids.... AND--then there were my kids and then the grandkids... (NOW---I have a Great Grandbaby on the way!!!)

    Being around kids and seeing their joy in the small things in life is just so special. Sounds like you had a great time...

    By the way, in the Smokies (at a place named Elkmont)---they have a Firefly Festival every year... That is where millions of them visit for a night or two... We haven't been there to see them --but would love to see that many of them together sometime.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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    1. Dear Betsy, congratulations on the great grandchild! I'd so love to go to the Firefly Festival. I hope you get there for it. Peace.

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  9. They don't live where I live, but somewhere in my youth I remember seeing them, and you brought that all back for me in this post, Dee. Thank you! :-)

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    1. Dear DJan, I remain amazed that the firefly doesn't light up everywhere! Peace.

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  10. Wow....Sometimes we tend to forget that we can be happy in little things. It really makes us happy. For one reason or the other, we avoid those little happiness. I sometimes wonder ' Why we do that'..

    First time on your blog. It's lovely...

    Thanks
    Shalet
    www.thedoveandtheraven.blogspot.com

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    1. Dear Shalet, thanks for stopping by and for your kind words. I think I often forget to look for the beauty of what I've taken for granted. Peace.

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  11. Oh-how-wonderful, Dee! To be able to capture the wonder of childhood as you have is a gift today.
    I had a similar experience some years back. A young girl from Florida who was at first afraid, then enchanted by fireflies. I have only see one here so far, but, they will be out turning on their lights soon.

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    1. Dear Penny, I have learned that they appear at different places at different times. I actually, think that the Friday night we saw them was the first time they'd appeared here this year. Peace.

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  12. Dearest Dee, I keep missing your posts, so I just clicked on your comment and here I am. So glad I caught this post because the wonder of childhood is something so special. And, you captured it beautifully in this post. I never saw a firefly either until I lived in N.J. We don't have them in Sweden and they don't live in California either. I remember them well, so special in the dark summer nights.

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    1. Dear Inger, I'm glad to know that fireflies are in New Jersey. It has surprised me that they're not all over. Take care. Peace.

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  13. To be a child again and race after fireflies would be wonderful. In our desert there are no fireflies, except those in my memory.

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    1. Dear Susan, so they are not in the desert. Nor in Australia. I just keep learning so much. Peace.

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