Fireflies
Item No. 6
“The little sparkling beings appear at twilight, in the dark, eventide, gloaming, (un) gloom, before night. Their light is a chance at love.”When we say something ‘bugs us’, it means it bothers us, annoys us, or irritates us. Probably, it seems, this idea of being ‘bugged’, originated from being “bugged” by bugs. Annoying insects. But a lightning bug isn’t annoying. Depending on where you live, north, south, east or west, or on one of the six continents where these creatures exist–perhaps you might refer to this sort of bug that lights up as–a glowworm, or the most beautiful term for the one that flies might even be, not lightning bug, but, “firefly.” In The Last Catalog, we use the term firefly. Of course, there is a much fancier name for fireflies. Technically speaking, fireflies are the soft-bodied beetles in the Lampyridae family. These little soft-bodied creatures–emit light! At dusk! Relying on bioluminescence to communicate. Bioluminescence? That is just a fancy name for fire, isn’t it? These creatures are the fire that flies just as the sun sets.The little sparkling beings appear at twilight, in the dark, eventide, gloaming, (un) gloom, before night. Their light is a chance at love. Each tiny bug wants to attract a mate. But to humans like us, starting in childhood, witnessing a spectacle of such fireflies in a field, in the forest, or in our own backyard, is, well, fantastical. These pixy-like; sprite-like; fairy-like creatures mesmerize children with their sparkle. Here in The Last Catalog, the firefly is a bespoke item like The Salamander. Each firefly is available as a singular, jewel-like variety. Consider noticing the big dipper firefly (denoted by the male’s swooping j-curve flight), for example. (Speciality pricing for its signature, swoop and glow.) A firefly is a product with soul. Spiritually speaking, some say a firefly is a guiding light, or that “their gentle, pulsating glow is reminiscent of the fluttering feelings of romance,” or that they are a sparkling, glittering, shining reminder of how brief our life is. Theirs lasting only a few weeks. But that isn’t why they are here in The Last Catalog. They are here because, practically speaking, some are asking, “where have all the fireflies gone?” It seems they are harder to find these days. Some say that though they might be missing, they’re not ready to claim extinction just yet, but that they’re seeking new places to be, as their old habitats dwindle. Either way, they belong here, in The Last Catalog. Just the fact that they might be harder for us to find, harder for us to see, means that in some way they’re disappearing. If we have to seek them out in new places, they won’t just magically appear, offering us a little nearby sparkle. This is a reminder that something we love, that brings a natural spark, glow and light to our lives, can disappear—die—in the blink of the pulsating glow of a firefly.
A firefly is priceless, obviously. Were they to disappear completely from our sight? Well, it would be the loss of a light during the twilight. A loss of a glow in the gloaming. A missed chance at a real fairytale that happens just before the night. Fewer fairy-like creatures, fewer fairy-tales? Less glowy love in the air at dusk, less love around us? Fireflies also belong to that rather mysterious group of insects that metamorphose — they undergo complete metamorphosis. They start as eggs, then become larva, then pupa, and finally they blossom into glowing adult beetles, for their brief life. That is the trajectory of life for the sparkly creatures we know. Their life reminds us that, in fact, despite our societal misgivings about aging that perhaps we have it all upside down. Perhaps, after all, we can always be young after we’re old, like the fireflies that metamorphose from egg to glow. Our life, this life, might simply be a metamorphosis. In which stage are we? What if this is a brief fairy-tale? Our story just beginning to be told, before we reach our own glow? (By the way, fireflies aren’t technically related, to the butterflies, but they do metamorphose like the Butterfly: See also How Butterfly Numbers Are Dropping, Or Not, Near You.)
Other specifications:
Perhaps we’ll simply miss this insect’s spark.