On deck
- Cat vomit
- Waffles for Sundae Sunday
- Booms and bursts
I attended a Zoom class the other day about fireflies. Did you know that today’s fireflies were eggs laid two years ago? And the mating dance they’re doing now in my rain garden over the Joe Pye and the cupplant will be the lights that flutter two years from now.
During my first Chicago summer, 18 years ago, these gorgeous little miracles enchanted me so, I’d spend hours reading about them. Their cold, chemical lights, bioluminescence, seemed like such a special thing in a place that I never have found comfortable. I have grown to enjoy many things about midwestern summer and they tend to be what most people hate, like humidity and extremely fragrant alleys on the hottest of days, but aren’t we all on team firefly?
What person isn’t delighted by their dance, like little wishes with wings, present then absent, blinking in a rhythm seductive to everyone, but meant for a beloved?
Tonight, we sit in our backyard, watching the fireflies dance as we read, write, hum, together in the dying dusk.
I did a hard thing today, a repair I’d been dreading. I sought the wise counsel of two friends and the good hardware store. They walked me through the repair, offering tools and advice. One hopped on a few calls, as much help as pep talk. The other told me that, yes, he could fix it, but that I could too, and just do it already. I did. It works and I’m proud.
I wonder what would have happened if this issue had come up when we were all here. I think we’d have just bought a new thing, and stuck the easy-to-fix one in the basement to moulder, like so many other things that didn’t get tackled, gathering layer after layer of dust from disuse and resentment.
But I dove in, head-first, after making sure. And I did it. I don’t know why I am so impressed with myself. I did these things all the darn time: finishing the front door, raising chickens, constructing a cozy space upstairs, starting a not-for-profit, homeschooling—it is a ridiculously long list of things wherein I thought, “Well, why not me?” And went ahead and did. However, this one made me nervous and I did it anyway.
What’s your nervous thing. Do it anyway.