I love...lightning bugs.

There are a lot of things that remind me of when I was just a wee little Jenny.

Cookie dough reminds me of licking the mixers clean.

Making the bed reminds me of how my mom used to stand at the foot of the bed while I stood at the head of the bed, and she'd throw the sheet up into the air so I could run under it.

Wheelbarrows remind me of my dad pushing me around the house in our wheelbarrow when he was outside doing yard work.

Then there are lightning bugs. When it got dark on a summer night - there they were. Tiny, blinking lights flying through the air. My grandparents had given my sisters and I a couple of small, wooden lightning bug houses and if you caught a lightning bug you could put it in there and hold the blinking light in your hands.

You had to stand still, set your sights on a lightning bug and follow its path. Light on - light off - light on. Usually I'd manage to catch several of them and they'd climb all over that little lightning bug house. Then when it was time for me to go inside I'd let them all go.

My favorite part wasn't necessarily catching the lightning bugs and it wasn't necessarily watching them climb around in the little house. My favorite part was letting them go and watching them light up the night sky together. It was like an awesome ending to an awesome movie, and the awesome movie was my day. There was something so hopeful about it, something so "until next time, lightning bugs".

Tonight while walking home, I saw a couple lightning bugs and realized it had been a while since I'd seen one. Or maybe it had just been a while since I'd noticed one. I held my hand out and the bug quickly landed and then took off again, blinking into the night. And I loved it just as much as I used to when I was little.

So until next time, try to take some time to sit and watch for lightning bugs. They could be anywhere, just waiting for you to notice them as they fly higher and higher...