To My Father in Heaven,

Thank you for fireflies. I am not sure what their specific ecological function is or if you put them on earth just to make me happy, but I am especially glad they are here. 
     And thank you for Sunday late nights with mason jars and for husbands who gently catches these little sparklers. Thank you for Catch and Release.
      Thank you for whatever event was happening at the Chicago History Museum, that was playing old-timey dance music. And thank you for a husband who swept me up in his arms and softly sang along, “L…is for the way you look tonight” while the fireflies danced around us. Even if husband was just humoring me a little bit.

Me trying to encourage our little friends to come close.

Sorry for the blur, but you can kinda see our fireflies. I think there are about 10 in this photo. We are trying to figure out a better way to capture them.

The little green, barely perceptible green streaks are our little firefly friends. We probably saw over 1,000 of them, but they get stage fright. Try as we might, we couldn’t get any good images. But we will be back out again next week with different tactics. See their little glowing bums? Don’t worry, all were released promptly back to their native habitat. No fireflies we harmed in the taking of this picture.