The Evening of Fireflies

Truthfully, I have never caught fireflies and put them in a jar before in my life (if my memory serves correctly...which it doesn't...sometimes). Tonight, though, I got an irresistible urge to snap one up in my palms. And I did!

The booger was hanging right in front of me in midair, his telltale flash of citrus light giving away his every move. He was rather chunky, too.

I pinched the camera around my neck under my arm and waddled after Mr. Lucky Bug with my hands extended. Right before I lunged to catch him, I paused and consulted with my mother (okay...I flat out hollered across the yard. Felt good, to be honest.) just to be sure this little bugger didn't bite or sting or something, then resumed my hunt. Thinking back on it, I was a girl on safari. I felt like a little kid again. I snapped a big one up, cupped my hands together, and tore across the yard calling my little brother over. When he arrived, wide-eyed and gasping, I told him to run inside and get one of my glass juice bottles out of the cabinet in my room. He returned with much squealing, and I gently bopped the buggy into the jar.

I didn't have to twist his arm or even suggest that he help me on my new-found mission. My little brother was gone in a flash, racing around the yard after the random blinking lights. 

Fireflies are freaking easy to catch -- something I never thought they would be. All you have to do is hold up your hand and lightly bop it against one and it sits down better than a show-trained poodle.

I don't know how many we caught, but we were catching too many too fast to care. I would no more than snag one of my own, my method slightly slower as I was official bottle holder, and my little brother would catch five in that time. At one point, one slipped away from him and I leaped into the air before it could ascend into the dimming clouds, a backwards shooting star.

Once it was time to go inside (though I would have preferred to stay outside and catch more, myself...), I put foil over the top of the bottle, punched tiny holes in it, and let my sisters bask in the twinkling little stars my brother and I had stuffed into the bottle. I even managed to get a picture of one blinking! Now that was hard.

While I'm sure the cats would have loved for me to simply let the fireflies go in the house -- my gosh, nobody would be able to get any sleep then! The cats would be ricocheting around like maniacs! Oh wait. They already do that... --, I let the batch go outside. I think I actually attracted more that way, but it was too dark to catch any more by then.

It was a simple joy. I enjoyed doing something simple and childish, while my brother enjoyed the adventure. And seeing his eyes light up like the fireflies he caught in his hands... priceless. Truly.