After
a long and exhausting art fair in Des Moines, Iowa a couple of years
ago, we were wiped out and irritable. The display was packed up and
we wanted to drive about halfway home, if we could. Driving through
the middle of Iowa, past endless rolling fields of corn we looked
for a place to stop to eat, feeling more and more annoyed that we
had not taken the time to eat before we left. Suddenly, rising out
of the corn fields on the left was....an outlet mall!!! Yuck! This
huge reminder of commerce seemed so garish and out of place here.
We had just seen a sign saying there would be no services for another
45 miles, so we decided to stop anyway and grab a McBurger.
Looking out McDonalds’ window toward the other side of the road
and up the hill, I noticed a sign... Crest Motel ...Vacancy. I said
to Mr. Crazy Old Lady, "Why not just stay here for the night?"
We
were too tired to drive home and it could'ot be much different than
any other motel. It actually looked pretty pleasant up on the hill,
with the cornfields stretching out behind it. The way our luck was
running that evening, we were just hoping it wouldn't turn out to
be another "Bates" Motel.
After we checked in to our simple, but perfectly pleasant room, I
went for a walk around outside. I had just seen the movie, “A
Thousand Acres,” and the vistas here looked a lot like the
wide angle farm views from that movie, and I wanted to view the expanse
of the fields just to see what the scene was like at twilight. Besides,
there is something comforting and relaxing about wide expanses of
green fields, and I needed some mental refreshment. Spouse, ordinarily
a big nature person, was bummed out and exhausted from the heat and
so on, so he was just into vegging out on TV in the room.
Behind
the building, there was a neatly manicured lawn with a little grove
of fir trees. As I looked out at the lawn, my eye caught the familiar
twinkle. I looked more closely and noticed fireflies. I decided then
to go get Mr. Crazy Old Lady anyway, because fireflies are a rare
sight in the city these days, and as a former scientist, I knew he
would enjoy this. He was persuaded.
In
just the few seconds it took us to get back, more and more fireflies
were rising from the grass. It was an unbelievable sight! Tiny lights
twinkled like little stars, rising and falling, just above the grass.
Imagine thousands of them, for that’s what there must have been!
There are not words to describe the full impact of the scene, as I
have never witnessed this sort of a display before in my life! It
just kept on and on, as more and more fireflies began to rise up and
slowly move out over the cornfields.
It
was a rare and truly magical moment.
In
spite of the garish outlet mall in the cornfield just to the east,
a small wonder of nature was still there, hidden just behind the old
fashioned motel up on the hill. It made life seem so worthwhile, and
left me with such a feeling of hope.
At
check out the next morning, I thanked the woman who ran the motel
for such a wonderful experience. I asked her if this happened throughout
the summer, or if it only happened like that on specific days of the
year. She said it happened only occasionally, and she agreed that
it had been an especially impressive display. She thought there had
been an unusually large hatch, and mentioned that motorists coming
in from up and down the expressway for the last couple of nights had
all commented about the thousands of fireflies rising up from the
ditches along side the road.
For
old cynics who are not easily impressed, the experience was beyond
impressive. We both felt as if we had been given the special gift
of being there at just the right time to witness an amazing event.