The other day, I was at my parents' house in Virginia. It was a beautiful evening so we decided to take our dog, Gatsby, out for an evening walk. We took the bike road, which hilariously enough, is not actually a road for bikes. Everyone just calls it "the bike road." It's more of a narrow path in the middle of a lot of green and weeds disguised as flowers. On our way back home, it dawned on me that I've walked on this bike road for over twenty years. It was so familiar but at the moment, so different. The closer we got to the end of the road, it hit me.
Hey, remember when it used to smell like honeysuckles? Remember when we used to pick them and eat the sweet nectar?
Remember this field used to light up with fireflies? Remember how we used to run and catch them and then peek at them in our cupped hands to see them light up?
I have no idea how long its been since the honeysuckles have disappeared or when the fireflies stopped lighting up the field but man, were those the best part of being a kid. And it just felt right to pay tribute to them now that its summer and I'm missing them so. I look back at the fun things I did as a child growing up without computers or ipads and iphones. All the trees that were climbed, all the worms that we dug out from the dirt, all the turtles we would find at the creek (and the angry mom who would have to bring them back because no, I couldn't have them as a pet), the pink roller skates, the bike rides, and water gun fights... they were the best summers. No iphone, computer, video game, or ipad would have ever measured up.
And now, I'm an adult, flying back and forth between DC and NYC. My summer these days mostly revolve around uber cars and being sweaty. So here's to you, honeysuckles and fireflies. Hopefully you're still out there making some kid happy.
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