CHASING FIREFLIES

This evening was a beautiful one, a great one for catching fireflies or chasing them as one daughter would call it.  Lightening bugs is what we called them in my childhood days, but I am corrected by the girls as they define them as fireflies.  Lightening bugs, fireflies, same difference.  This is something they have wanted to do all summer that they have never gone out and accomplished before. The timing just hadn't been right, either too early or too dark.  As the evening had been winding down, and they were all comfy in their jammies, I realized it was the perfect time of the evening to go out on this great catch.  I had never really thought much about them not having experienced running around after the lights floating around the yard.  But as I watched, I recalled summer evenings from my childhood running around my grandparent's yard with my cousins and safely dumping these creatures in a bug catcher, an hour glass vented plastic lantern like shape.  Having gone out on a whim, we opted for a plastic food storage container.  One daughter was on the move with quick hands and catching them left and right.  The other daughter a little hesitant would almost have one cupped in her hand and would let it fly freely into the night.  As it grew later and it soon was time to call it a night, the hesitant one opened the lid of the container and let them all free amazed and at the lights floating away.  There is nothing like a summer evening in the life of a child.