Some Light Reading....

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I enjoy fall. The leaves whirl in circles as they make their way to the earth. Floating as if cradled by unseen arms as they gently drift. The abundance of falling leaves brings to mind an array of butterflies or a light show from fireflies.

Late spring, 1995ish. I was driving the van from Cades Cove, Tennessee, up the mountain toward Newfound Gap on Highway 441. It was dark, as was our typical day at Cades Cove. We would arrive late morning and drive the Cove's 11-mile loop with the van door open taking in nature's display and stopping as we wished - to visit the historical cabins, to hike, to picnic. We stayed as long as we could, 'til dusk or dark.

Perhaps it was this trip that the bear strolled across the road right in front of our van. I snapped an awesome photograph of that bear. Maybe I'll one day learn how to scan photos onto the computer and even post them on my blog.

We - my two children, myself, and I think my mother-in-law - had taken the trip that late spring day from Bryson City, North Carolina, to Cades Cove, Tennesse, and were on our way back to Bryson. Highway 441 is a fun road with a tunnel of green boughs, mountain view vistas, winding roads, bridge arches.

As we left the Cove that evening and began the climb on 441 in the dark, both my children were in the back seat of the van, peering out the back window. Joshua was around four years old and Sarah around seven.

"Wow Mom! You should see the lightning bugs!" They sounded excited.

"Are there a lot?" I inquired.

"A whole bunch!!"

I spied a pull out ahead beside the pavement, on the left side of the road. I pulled over and turned off the van and all its lights. We stepped outside.

The darkness was thick.

There are no street lights along that road, and there was hardly any traffic at the time. I guess folks hadn't started trekking this way yet. Plus we had probably chosen a weekday as opposed to a weekend for our travel, so as to avoid the crowds.

We stood in the darkness enthralled and mesmerized by what was before our eyes. The display must have been the theatrics of thousands of fireflies. We simply stood there, silently. After a moment or so we just said, "Wow...."

I recall thinking, "This is better than a Disney light show." It was total magic. But of course, at the time I didn't allow myself to use the word "magic" as that was unbiblical. A shame really, because it was like magic to me. I was waiting for fairy dust to fall from the sky and transform life into a place where I could float along with those fireflies.

We gazed at the show for some ten or fifteen minutes before we began the rest of the oneish-hour drive back up over Newfound Gap and down the other side to Bryson.

Joshua soon feel into a deep sleep, sprawled out across the back seat of the van. We couldn't rouse him at all when, about one-half hour later, we saw the giant mama hog with her six piglets on the right side of the road.

Bear. Deer. Fireflies. Hogs. Another day in The Smokies. Another day of gratitude.
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