Despite what the calendar says, summertime usually makes its way to my neck of the woods here in southwestern Virginia right after “blackberry winter” has left its mark by bringing us the last chilly snap of spring, and such appears to be the case again this year. There are several sure signs that summer has arrived, and the two that I love the most are lightnin’ bugs and crickets. Well, tonight the crisp evening air is chock full of the wonderful sights and sounds of these tiny creatures!
Every time I see a field light up from the blinking taillights of thousands of lightnin’ bugs and hear the roar of chirping crickets as they provide the accompanying music, my mind takes me back to my boyhood home “up in the holler” in Widener Valley, Virginia. I remember spending countless summer days playing outside, eagerly waiting for dusk to descend upon our yard so the lightnin’ bugs would come out and start flying around.
We kids would chase the luminescent insects down, then catch them with our bare hands and place them in a mason jar – which would become a country-style nightlight at bedtime. After all these years, I can still smell the distinctive aroma that drifted out into the room from those old jars as we lay in bed watching the tiny lights blink on and off until the sandman had paid us our nightly visit. Those were special times, long before kids had video games and round-the-clock cartoons to occupy their time.
Sometimes I think today’s kids are really missing out by not having to create much of their own entertainment like we did back then. But then again I believe we’re all missing out in a lot of ways as we live our lives in the modern world.