That Illusive Firefly

A lot of us have a bucket list. You know, those things we'd really like to experience in life before we run out of time and kick that list's namesake.

Now, many of the items that appear on these lists are usually quite extraordinary and will sadly not come to pass before we do, since they either involve circumstances which are highly unusual or require the watermark of monetary privilege or social status that we don't possess and cannot attain.

However, while some of our buckets are filled up with the seemingly unachievable, there are also those things that are quite simple to come by, and are even mundane or commonplace for many. The rest of us just need to put ourselves in the proper place to experience them.

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One of the more prosaic things that has long been a part of my bucket is seeing a firefly, or even better, a group of fireflies!

Of course, I'd like to do this at night when their little posteriors are all aglow, since it would be far more thrilling than witnessing them in their less interesting daylight state.
I actually lived in the Deep South for a full year when I was in my mid-40s, and even then I never managed to see just one.

Oh, we (my then wife and I) certainly asked where some could be found, and I'd assumed there'd be plenty of them hanging about in the region's plentiful swamplands or glades. But unfortunately, it seems anywhere they spray for mosquitoes (which is absolutely everywhere down there), you will also find no fireflies. That's because the insecticides that are used aren't selective about which bugs they destroy and which can remain unharmed.

And so, at the age of 51, my quest to encounter a sparkle of fireflies goes on with little chances of being fulfilled anytime soon it would seem, since I have no vacations, business trips or other excursions planned to any places where they might be found.

But I will continue holding out the hope that one day, under whatever context might be necessary to bring this longstanding wish into being, that it will in fact occur so I can leave this world having known one small desire to experience yet another of this wonderous creation's miraculous forms of expression.