Last year Mr. Kaos had to go away on business for father's day. He thought it really sucked, so rather than have K and I pout that we were spending Father's day alone he bought two plane tickets for K and I to go visit my father. My daddy.
I know, I'm 30. I know it isn't "cool" or "hip" but my dad is my daddy. I call him daddy. Deal with it.
While we were there I saw something special, something amazing, something that if I had ever seen before it had been in my early childhood and I had no recollection of it.
I saw fireflies. Hundreds of them dancing in the air like little points of light playing a beautiful song on the night air.
I have no snark to interject into that statement. It's true, I stood with my dad and one of his oldest friends on his back porch half sauced and as I used to porch rail to hold myself up I looked out over the rolling green unfenced yards (remind me to come back to the no fence thing) watching all those nasty little bugs with their asses lighting up and man, oh man, it was beautiful.
What brings this memory to the forefront? What makes me mention it now? Last night as we said bon voyage to a good friend, in the midst of our big meal and margarita intake my phone rang and who was on the other end?
My daddy.
He called to tell me that for the first time in years the fireflies were in his backyard... and they were beautiful...
12 comments:
That is one thing I always missed when I lived there, now I am so used to them again, it's fun to watch the kitties chase them. We have lots of them.
K was amazed to find them called "lightening bugs" in the south.
I saw firefly's for the first time with my Dad as well, when we were in Iowa, visiting his side of the family. He told us stories about how he and his sister used to kill them, and put the shiny guts on their faces so they would glow, too. Gross. I know. I love my Dad!
Oh that is so beautiful...Come back to the no fence thing....
I grew up in Kansas and Iowa and we too pasted them on our faces, and wrists and fingers and kept them in jars overnight in our bedrooms...it took me almost a full summer when I first moved here to realize what was missing at night - so I love the memories associated when I go back to see my folks who are still there...
I've never seen fireflies. That's a great memory to hold onto.
How sweet is that?
Thats a wonderful reflection! And as a southerner - "Daddy" is perfectly acceptable to use even when you are 50 or 69. The only problem I would have is if you referred to him as "Da-Da" - then my eyebrow might elevate a few degrees. :-)
Wow, I am so glad I was able to evoke such lovely thoughts today... and daveman.. I think I threw up in my mouth a little with the da-da thing... I'm not what you would call a big fan of the babytalk.
We haven't had any fireflies yet; too much rain, I guess. My daughter is really looking forward to putting some in a jar. I'm looking forward to watching her try to catch them!
This is a beautiful post. It brought back a lot of memories of my own.
I love my Daddy. LOVE LOVE LOVE him. he will ALWAYS be my Daddy.
No fireflies here though. Spiders. TONS of spiders.
No fence thing....
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