The flash caught my eye. Just a brief blink, but I knew what it was: lightning bugs.

When I got up to look, I had to wait a few minutes before I saw the light again, flashing occasionally in the trees outside the window.

Fireflies, or lightning bugs, mean summer to me. There’s something magical about these little beetles with a phosphorescent glow. (Some fireflies in the Great Smoky Mountains actually synchronize their flashing light patterns, a display I’d love to see!)

Memories of lightning bugs

I can’t claim a childhood affinity, however. They weren’t common in my youth. The one time I recall seeing them, I was older, probably 11 or 12. I can’t recall exactly who was there, but it was at my grandmother’s house in the height of summer. Hot nights seem perfect for the insects to shine their light.

I want to say we caught some in a jar and marveled over the flashing lanterns, but I may be misremembering. That may be a story I heard from someone who would capture them to carry around like a blinking beacon. (It’s a nicer story than the one he told about smearing bug guts on his skin to try and get the glow.)

Most of my fond memories of fireflies are from adulthood, a conglomeration of remembrances of seeing them on warm nights and being thrilled at the experience.

When I was in Tennessee last June and July, lightning bugs were common. Nearly every night on my walk I’d run across near swarms of them, blinking under trees and bushes, spreading their light to attract others.

Yet each time, they would bring a smile to my face. More than once I tried to take a photo or video of them, without much success. (To view an attempt, watch this video: Lightning bugs in Tennessee) Despite seeing them so often, they never ceased to delight me.

Surely fireflies are magical, if for no other reason than they make you feel like a kid again, and a happy one at that.

Seeing the lightning bugs gave me a feeling of happiness and peace. Like despite everything else that’s going wrong in the world, all of the news that makes us sad and worried, there still are pretty things, magical things, that can make us feel good. Here’s to the little lightning bug who made me smile in the dark.

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How to Be a Better Writer Tip

Don’t give up

Lately, I’ve been uninspired when it comes to this column. Or perhaps overwhelmed is a better word. Not by the column or even the writing, but by the world and what’s happening. I feel like what I have to say isn’t important. There are so many more (life and death) topics.

And yet, I feel compelled to write.

I started and stopped. Saved and deleted. Read and re-read. Edited and changed.

While I didn’t feel like I should publish what I was writing, I didn’t give up. I kept writing, even if it wasn’t what I wanted to share.

Had I not kept writing, I wouldn’t have been sitting the dark, typing on my laptop, writing yet another column I didn’t want to publish, when a little firefly flickered outside the window. In an instant, I had a column, a topic I felt I could write about. Something that felt right and true.

Is it hard hitting? No, but most of my columns aren’t. They are my personal recollections, a look at my inner thoughts, a deep dive into who I am and who I’m becoming.

So, my advice today is don’t give up. Keep writing. You never know when inspiration will strike, and it will feel right.