"Late Night" With Jane Holt!

It's 10:15 p.m. and I'm feeling downright electric!

This must be what people are talking about when they mention the night life.

I started my day as usual, opening my eyes for good at around 4:50 a.m., wondering what it would be like to just drift off again for another two hours--which would still get me dressed and ready by 7. But, alas, that is not my lot in life.

. . . which means that summer nights for me generally are punctuated by the last rays of sun. Yeah, I was that kid already in bed who needed really thick shades to block out the still-shining sun. Never did figure out how to turn a deaf ear to the pickup basketball game at the Asbjornsons across the street, though.

That's why our evening walk was so important to me tonight.

It was our first evening walk of the summer. Not bad, if you are a calendar person, considering summer officially kicked off yesterday. But, for the rest of us, it's pretty pathetic that I've only managed two or three summer nights past 9:30. And, I'll be honest, 9:15 has been a wild dream more than a few nights this season.

I just saw my first firefly a week ago. For all I know, though, they've been squeezing their most excellent luminescent butt juices for weeks now, and I just haven't been around to witness it.

Ah, but tonight. THAT'S what this is really about. Fireflies and crickets and no wind and orange streaks in a darkening sky. Tonight's blog is all about a mom pushing her son on the swing at the park and the Latino teens tickling each other next to the volleyball court.

Tonight is about tossing an errant tennis ball back over the fence so four wheelchair athletes--my former student and current friend Eric Kingery among them--could continue their match. It's about Hobbes, smelling new and awful scents in hidden corners at Woods Park, and strangers saying "hello" as they pass each other on the path.

It's about standing perfectly still, only our eyes moving as we watch the park's open field come alive with pulsating fireflies.

For me, tonight was about reconnecting with a world that I have slept through once too often.

And I, for one, am seriously considering putting away my early bird and skipping tomorrow's worm.