On a morning walk as I watched a burst of lightning flash before my eyes…
a memory was awakened…of our children chasing fireflies.
It was in the evening…after dark…around a campfire in N.C.
when from a blended marriage we were still learning how to be a family.
I remember how our children were fascinated by fireflies…when a flash of light was all that they could see…I remember it was here they began to learn how beautiful nature could be.
I remember Deborah’s father smiling, knowing our children would be no match, as he told them he’d give them a nickel for every firefly they could catch.
As I look back at our children chasing fireflies…long before this poem was penned…
I remember at the time thinking to myself how I wished that moment would never end.
We never know when a sight, a sound, a taste, a touch…a smell…will awaken in us a memory from the place where memories dwell.
We never know when or how a memory…across our minds will leap…
to visit for a moment before returning to the place where memories sleep.
It’s funny how that moment…the one I wished would never end…still visits every now and then…like an old and treasured friend.
Of course that moment did end…but over the years I have come to understand why…why moments in our life flash like lightning across the sky.
Because moments of beauty are meant to be ephemeral…
so that every person…every child…every woman…every man…
can gather, in their lifetime, as many memories as they can…
So that…on a morning walk
when they see a bursts of lightning flash across the skies…
a memory will awaken…
like watching their children chasing fireflies.
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