musings on fireflies....

I’ll always associate fireflies with a sense of wonder.  I’m a western girl, and our side of the country is bereft of their phosphorescent company.  The first time I saw a firefly, I was on Gerogetown’s campus the summer after graduating high school.  Relaxing outside with friends after a class, someone casually remarked during a lull in conversation:  “Oh, the fireflies are out.”  I was completely enchanted. 

Now in residence in firefly country, my eyes still dart around each summer twilight to spot them.  I love how egalitarian these beetles are:  chemical wonders that fly low and slow so even the smallest children can catch them.  We want to build a community that will help you and your children to catch life’s sparkling experiences that are in reach of your own creative abilities.  We just need to make place and time in our lives to find and enjoy and learn from them.

I memorized this poem when I was in junior high (a nervous girl looking for things to write in yearbooks…this one was a bit long…) and have judged every association by it since:  

Rachel Field, “Some People”

Isn’t it strange some people make

You feel so tired inside.

Your thoughts begin to shrivel up

Like leaves all brown and dried.

But when you’re with some other ones

It’s stranger still to find

Your thoughts as thick as fireflies

All shiny in your mind!

We want the wonder collective to be full of second-stanza experiences.

The Pennsylvania state insect is our perfect mascot.