Fishin' In The Dark

Lazy yellow moon coming up tonight
Shining through the trees
Crickets are singing and lightning bugs
Are floatin' on the breeze...
- Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Of all the places I know, the best place of all to see lightning bugs is at the Farm. The Farm. My Aunt Mary's Farm outside of New Richmond, Wisconsin. It isn't a diary farm like most of Wisconsin, or even a hobby farm. It's just 40 acres of trees. Aunt Mary's dad bought it from two Norwegian brothers who couldn't pay their taxes, so he had a place to hunt. Mary spent a lot of time there growing up when there were epidemics going through the Twin Cities and her dad thought it best to get his wife and two kids away from it all. The farm house looked like it had been built by two old farmer brothers...a small kitchen with a pump in the sink instead of running water, a small living room, two small bedrooms that had been tacked on in back, and an even smaller bathroom. There was a nice enclosed porch off the back, and a low, sloped roof over it all.

When I was a young girl, my family used to go up there with our Boe cousins to cut down our own Christmas tree. We'd get there and it would be a big laughing argument who had to go chip all the drowned mice out of the frozen-over toilet in the bathroom. Because, of course, there was no heat inside until someone fired up the gas heater in the living room. So we'd all tromp off in the woods, cut down our trees, go back inside and eat sandwiches with cocoa, and then head home. Once in a very great while, we went up for the day in the summer, but what I mostly remember about the old farm house, is the winters.

When my Aunt Mary inherited the place, she tore down the old farm house, put in an in-ground pool where the house had once stood, and then brought in a pre-fab three-bedroom home. She added a deck and a three-season porch. She cleared a lawn around the pool, and it became a really nice place to be. The reason I never spent much time up there in the summer is because my parents always had it for a week each summer but it was their time away from us kids for a while and we kids were farmed out to other relatives. But once I had kids, my folks wanted to spend that time with their granddaughters, and they started inviting me to join them for their week at the Farm. And so ever since my girls can remember, it's been a part of their summers.

Lying on our backs and counting the stars
Where the green grass grows

And it's where I spent time with my Mom. More uninterrupted, relaxed, enjoyable time with my Mom than anywhere else I can think of. We would sit for hours by the pool playing games like Upwords and Scrabble. We'd watch the girls and talk about them and be so proud of them. We'd reminisce and gossip and tell stories and get the giggles. And sometimes just sit and enjoy the silence of each others' company. But I just loved being in her presence with nothing pressing to do, no interruptions, just feeling loved. And when Mom passed on, I somehow inherited my Mom's week at the Farm...and my girls continue to come.

Staying the whole night through
Feels so good to be with you

Sometimes I have the chance to go up to the Farm a bit earlier than everyone else, or stay later after they've all gone home. Or sometimes I just stay up late at night after everyone's gone to bed, and I go sit out on the three-season porch in the dark and watch the back yard all lit up with a zillion lightning bugs floating around the back yard. And I'm at peace. I feel my Mom's presence so strongly there. It is a special place to be.