Thursday, May 31, 2018

A Light in the Dark


I was up most of last night because only one of my children managed to sleep through the night. The other three were up at various times due to nursing needs, blanket issues, and illness.

As I was sitting on the couch at 3:15 a.m. waiting on the ill child to come out of the bathroom (again), I saw a tiny light moving around outside in the brush. It was a firefly*.

I love fireflies, but rarely see them as the dark hours in the summer coincide with my sleep hours. But this night, I wasn't sleeping, so I saw the lone firefly that had emerged too early in the unseasonable heat. There weren't any other fireflies to respond to its flashing, though, which was kind of sad.

Or maybe anything seems sad when you're sitting on a couch awake in the wee hours.

That's all.

* A poll: Do you call them lightning bugs or fireflies?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

lightning bugs
Linda

Anonymous said...

Lighting bugs.
Beth
My fondest wish for you is more sleep time.

Anonymous said...

Fireflies. And I have seen one lonely firefly a few times in the last week--blinking and moving across the field of one window, then another, then another. It's almost as if he is looking in the windows to see if he can find a girlfriend in my house. No such luck....

They are fascinating little creatures, in my opinion.

tu mere said...

Fireflies. Hope your sleep deprevation isn't leading to hallucinatioms; if so, what you saw isn't one name or another. Is A. gone again?

Pippa said...

Lightning bugs. Haven't seen any in Utah but I've only lived here a couple of years. They may exist in another part of the state. I'm from Ohio and grew up catching lighting bugs in the summer. Miss seeing them.

Anonymous said...

Fireflies, we called them in Colorado. Don't know if we have any in Minnesota--I have never seen one. Mary in MN

mil said...

I think I use both at random.

Anonymous said...

Lightning bugs or fireflies, interchangeably. I'd never seen one until I visited relatives in south central Nebraska in the summertime -- I grew up in eastern New Mexico (just south of the area you're moving to, I suspect) and southwest Kansas, and lightning bugs/fireflies like a lot more moisture than you'll find in those areas.