Near the end of May, I started to hear all about the 17-year cicadas that were supposed to emerge in our area this summer. From what I heard, it sounded like they emerged and then died away quickly. As the weeks passed, I began to wonder if I had missed the cicada’s.
Ha.
Haha.
Ok, if you have not experienced cicada’s, I, too, was skeptical. I wondered what the big deal could possibly. They are just bugs. Surely they aren’t THAT…extreme.
Ha again.
Experiencing the cicada’s this summer was unlike anything I have ever experienced! I found it to be most similar to seeing clouds of locusts in Niger. Only it lasted a few weeks. The first time I spotted one, I thought, “What is THAT?” and then proceeded to shift my gaze on the lawn as I noticed another one and another one and another one and then HUNDREDS of tiny exoskeletons on the ground.
The cicada’s themselves do not bite and they are very harmless to humans. They are also stupid as a brick and will just fly into whatever is in their flight path- cars, playground equipment, the human head of your child or best friend as you sit innocently at the park. They are about the size of a dime, so not tiny. But they have these freakishly large red bug eyes that just….give me the heebie jeebies.
My kids on the other hand, LOVE the cicadas. They are slow and easy to catch, and they make fun bug noises when caught. I am not kidding when I say that my kids spent hours this summer catching cicadas!
The thing that really surprised me most about the cicadas is how LOUD they are. I have no better words to describe the sound but as a constant screaming. When I got back into the van after spending time at a park covered in cicadas, my ears were actually ringing and I had a headache! This video isn’t great overall, but if you turn the volume on, you can hear the cicadas!
I don’t exactly love cicadas as much as my kids to, but these little buggers really got me to thinking. This breed of cicada only comes out every 17 years. Where was I 17 years ago? What was I doing? What was important to me? I was 13 years old in 2004 and I lived in Africa so have never seen a cicada in my life. I was probably starting to be really interested in boys and also learning how to get along with girls. I am sure I wrote angsty entries in my journal and also laughed A LOT. That was probably the year that Joy and I took an older dorm girls razor and taught ourselves how to shave our legs. I tried to learn how to play the flute but didn’t do so great at that. I had no idea that I would marry Theo, have three babies and a couple rental properties and live in America.
Oh, perspective. I love you. You are such a gift.
And And as the cicada’s have crawled back into their holes underground, it has helped me to think about the future, too? Where will I be in 17 years? Where will my kids be? What kinds of lives will they have? Will they be taking THEIR kids to a park and collecting cicada’s out of the splash park drains? Will they have self-driving cars and laugh at how antiquated their Mom’s cell phone footage was 17 years ago?
I know it’s kind of silly, but seeing the cicada’s this summer gave me a little bit a deeper and broader perspective on life. The hard times that we go through right now may be completely gone in 17 years, but what new hard times will we have? What moments and memories will be carrying with us when these cicadas emerge again?
