Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson for May 01, 2016

As pretty as they are, they’re still bugs. So you better not be trying to eat anything.

But they’ve known each other for longer than a year, or even two.

Never been around fireflies either, Phoebe.

Fireflies are pretty. But we can all agree we would prefer a real unicorn (even if it is the most narcissistic creature of all).

It’s like what you would read on the edge of a treasure map, pointing off into the unknown distance: Here, there be unicorns.

Here in the UK we only have glow-worms, a type of firefly in which only the females glow and they can’t fly (the males fly but don’t glow), so the little lights crawl around in the bushes instead of flitting through the air. They’re supposed to be as big and bright as a Christmas-tree bulb but they’re also very rare and I’ve never seen one.

They were plentiful when I was a kid, but I haven’t seen any in many years.

I drove long haul for seven months. (Thats how long it took me to figure out that truck driving sucked.) I first saw a firefly at that time.Imagine my horror when i discovered that when you hit a firefly at 55mph it turns into a glowing smear on the windshield.

There were lots of fireflies when I was growing up. We would catch them and put them in a jar, letting them go before bedtime. I occasionally see one or two now days but nothing like days gone by. One of the joys of a warm summer night, watching the fireflies flashing their lights.

Also called lightning bugs. We see them in summer, near dark. Helps if you have bushes in your yard.

There is nothing like driving by a field on a summer night and seeing it full of fireflies — just magical. Also very rare these days, very sadly. Another little bit of joy snuffed out.

And, thank you, Dana, for the lovely reminder.

Agreed Phoebe.