A few nights ago several of our grandchildren were here long after dark.  It is just that time of year that the glow worms start to appear.  I love their magical, fairy-like, quick wisp of a glow that fades back into the deep dark of the night.  (For the uninitiated, glow worms are the common name of the larval stage of several beetles and even flies...in this case they are the larva of fireflys).  You only see them in September and October (or at least that is the only time I have ever seen them) after the weather begins to cool down a bit.  

So, the children were running around in the dark, some with flashlights and some without, when one of them noticed a glow worm.  Soon, they had brought me a plastic cup with a lid, and every few minutes, one would run up with another glow worm to add to those collected in the cup.  Now, if you look at the picture above, you will see what a glow worm looks like.  Really, they are a bit creepy, but that didn't phase the children.  Even the girls, Kathleen, Elsie, Opal, and Adeline were gleefully catching them and depositing them into the cup.  What a wonderful time they all had.

Later, as I was driving Joel's kids home, I told them about all the fun I had as a city kid visiting Fernnook and running around after dark with my cousins.  Kathleen said to me, "Grandma, do you ever wish you were still a kid?"

That was an easy one for me.  I loved my childhood, but I truly do believe that maturity is worth more than all that has gone before it.  I do miss people from earlier times.  I miss my mother.  I miss Grandma Opal.  How I wish I could play one more game of High Five with them and laugh until we were silly.  But, I don't want to go back to those good old days; rather, I want to somehow pull them into these new good days.

Well, I couldn't really explain all of that to Kathleen, so I just said, "No, honey, I wouldn't want to go back to being a kid.  If I did that, I wouldn't have you precious grandchildren that I love so much.  Honey, these are the good news days, and I love them!"

 

The other day, Tyler and Adeline stopped by for dinner.  Adeline was carrying a little watering can and told me this was her friend.  It was a frog.  "How cute," thought I.  "She is so good at pretending.  The watering can is her pretend frog friend."  During dinner her friend sat on the table, and she tried to squish a pear down the spout.  Then when we told her to take the pear out of the spout, she popped it in her mouth...ugh...but so 3 year oldish.  Why did she try to put a pear down the spout?  Well, to feed the frog, why else?  It wasn't until quite some time had passed, that I happened to look into the watering can.  And what did my little eyes behold?  Why, a frog, of course.  A green, sticky, long, skinny frog just sitting in the bottom of the watering can.  That watering can made a nice little home for her little frog.

Another Adeline story happened last week.  Kent was watching the kids outside during Wednesday night Bible study.  Two of the kids were on the swings, and there were only two swings and Adeline wanted to swing.  So, she turned to her grandpa and said, "When will it be my turn, Brother Kent?"  That's what you get from going to church where your grandpa is the pastor.  And tonight I heard that little Kate Smith was playing with her Barbie dolls with her dad.  She handed her dad the Ken doll and said, "This is Brother Kent.  Will you put these sandals on him, dad?"