I saw the very first lightning bugs of the season on May 17th. It was the first night Mr. FixIt and I slept in the new camper. Then it got cold and I didn’t see any. But I saw a couple more last night. Some folks call them fireflies. We loved summer when we were kids…for so many reasons. But one of the best things was catching lightning bugs and putting them in a canning jar.

PopPop would poke holes in a jar lid. We’d put a little grass in the bottom of the jar so the lightning bugs would feel at home. Then us kids would run all over the yard catching the little critters when they swooped up out of the lawn at dusk. We would capture as many as we could and then take the jar to bed with us to watch the magical little lights flash in the dark.

Sometimes before bed, my Uncle Bud would bring a watermelon out of the cellar house and cut it up in thick slices. He’d cut each slice in half so we had a semi-circle of red sweetness to cool us off. Grandma would let us use the salt shaker and sprinkle a little on before we ate it. To this day, I can’t eat watermelon without salt. We had contests to see who could spit a seed the farthest. Uncle Bud always warned us not to swallow any seeds or we’d grow watermelons in our bellies. For a long time I thought pregnant women weren’t eating watermelon the right way!

Once the watermelon was finished, grandma ran a basin of warm water and we washed up and headed to bed. If it was the peak of summer, we wore little seersucker babydoll PJ’s to bed with just a sheet to cover us. We didn’t know what air conditioning was. We were lucky to have a fan in Uncle Bob’s room that sucked all the hot air out of the house. When it was cool enough, someone turned off the fan.

I remember so many summer nights with my jar of lightning bug on a chair by the bed, listening to the night sounds out at the farm. Whippoorwills. Owls. Peepers and tree frogs and bull frogs. When I was really little, we heard bobwhites. I think I might have heard one or two since then.

This is why I love the farm. These memories. They’re as thick as cobwebs and unavoidable. West Virginia. The country. It all just brings me so much peace. I am so grateful I listened to that inner voice and came home when I did. I have never been so happy as I am here…in the home of my heart.

❤️

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”    James 1:17 NIV