The Fireworks Were All Natural

It's been a long and hot summer for Micah. Today was a long and hot day. Its just tiring for everyone when you wake up in a sweat and get no reprieve through the day, except that brief interval of Holy Thundershowers, Batman for 15 minutes just to put a stop to all the outdoor work we had going on. Micah is exhausted from all the awesome of summer that's going on, and I just don't have the heart to put him to bed at 7PM to try to compensate for that. Through the school year I'm all over the early bedtime, mind you. But summer is about being overtired, and staying up late, and doing things that you just can't do the other nine months of the year.

And sometimes I pay for allowing Micah to be overtired. Today we all paid. Micah woke up and put his grumpy pants on. And then he wore them All.Day.Long.

It was a long day, let me tell you.

But the moment came that he had waited for all week. The moment that he got to go to grandma's house. And the grumpy boy that we lived with all day was suddenly the most pleasant and happy little soul you'd ever seen. And as a bonus, his cousins were there in celebration of the nation's birthday. It was a fun evening, indeed. And Micah couldn't be happier.

Except I knew that he was overtired. He needed a nap at 10AM and the day went downhill. And he's 10. Ten year olds don't nap. We had reached the point where Micah just needed to be put to bed at a decent hour, summer or not. And unfortunately, due to a busy schedule the next day where we'd need a happy and compliant son, Independence Day was the night that Micah needed to go to bed early. Or at least earlier than everyone else.

After dinner, I herded Micah to the car. I knew the fight would be epic, and would probably rival the fireworks to be featured later in the evening, but there was little choice left to me. Micah needed an intervention. And sure enough, he evaded me and my herding actions. I put daddy in charge while I just waited for Micah in the car. As a testament to just how tired Micah is, once he knew he had no choice he just simply and quietly strapped himself into the front seat beside me. Too tired to put up a fight is VERY tired.

As we drove home, Micah and I saw fireworks being set off in yards in town. Small, smoking snappers and streaming rockets that left trails of colored sparks in their wake. Reds and blues and yellows. Bright flashes in the dusky evening, lighting up yards and illuminating faces enamored with the aerial display. And then we left town, and saw fireworks being put off in the distance at campgrounds and homes across the landscape. They shot above the fields and trees, bursting into a spray of showers that fascinated Micah with their pretty lights but lack of sound. And we kept drivin, further into the country, until we were on our own mile-long road, populated with farms and fields. There were no neighbors putting off fireworks. We heard no snaps or pops, saw no rockets red glare. It was just dusky farm country, and the quiet of the evening surrounding us.

And that's when we saw the best show of all. The fields were lit up with hundreds of fireflies, silently glowing on and off in the twilight. And the only sound that could be heard as we sat in the yard watching the field shimmering with glowing lights were frogs down at the creek calling to each other in a chorus of nighttime melodies.

Tonight was such an awesome reminder that life isn't all about the flash and noise, but far more about taking the time to see what's around you and learning to truly appreciate things that are as real as it gets. Nothing man-made is ever going to compete with nature, and no noise can ever compare to the quiet of the world settling down to sleep.