Nostalgia and a Firefly
Sounds of music in the distance, crickets chirping off to the side, the odd mosquito trying to gain unauthorized access into the mosquito nets, and the smell… the smell of Africa in the bush; a combination of dry grass, wild animals — and a mystical scent that can’t be identified, in my mind I like to think of it as a scent of ancient times.
I hear whispering coming from somewhere and open my 4-year old eyes when 2 familiar figures approach my bed in the dark, but it’s not completely dark, there’s a tiny blue light in the mix coming from one of those figures, she lifts up my mosquito net and sits down on my bed with my other sister Linds next to her, telling me they have a gift for me. I sit up and Jo passes a jar to me, inside is a creature I’ve never seen, yet am instantly curious as this is a bug with a blue light shining off it — and that for me is an incredible find! I’m the “bug-lover” of the family, so I now need to analyze and learn everything there is to learn about this special little creature!
One of my earliest, most vivid memories, was during one of our frequent family trips growing up, to a place called Lake Kariba, which was a common getaway for us Zimbabweans back in the 80's.
I was around 4 years old, and have 2 older sisters, who with my Mum and a huge group of her friends and their kids, would take these trips up, by car, which took around 4 hours or so, to holiday homes up by the lake, for weekends and long holidays.
The houses were designed very differently back then, where there weren’t really ‘walls’ in the front — mostly pillars and ceilings, so you literally had ‘an open house’, which were incredibly unique considering that where we were was mosquito-ridden malaria-zones, with wildlife such as crocodiles, lions, elephants, hippos, giraffes… snakes, spiders — wildlife galore! And that’s how we loved it, out there in the wild, living with the wild.
That place… was magical… I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
A little history attached for those interested:
Days spent out on house boats on ‘the lake’, the adults dancing and having fun, the kids daring to jump in those pretty dangerous waters — but far out enough that it was ok to swim in briefly.
Fishing competitions were the popular events to go to in those days, specifically catching Tiger and Vundu fish. In Kariba we often caught the Vundu fish which grow up to 55kg’s in weight — hefty things! 1 would feed us for days..!
Going to each others homes, doing BBQ’s.. eating, drinking — and laughter all around, always laughter! I loved that!
But the thing that I think I enjoyed the most was looking for bugs. I had an affinity with bugs back then (I still rescue them decades on!), hairy caterpillars, spiders, stick insects, praying mantis’s, chameleons, etc (not for the faint-hearted of course), snakes were no exception.. loved them too! My Mother was in constant fear of what I’d bring home in my lunch box from pre-school as there was always a surprise for her.. her poor heart!
This Firefly, was no ordinary creature for me back then. It invoked a nostalgic memory of ‘that place and time’, which I will never have back, but can always re-visit when I want to remember those specific happy childhood times.
I like to think of it as my time of ‘awakening’ into this world as it was one of my earliest memories, and - as the firefly has a spiritual meaning of self-illumination, it plays upon my mind a wonder if that really was my internal light coming to life then.
What a Beautiful memory
I consider myself one of the lucky few to have lived through such incredible moments in my childhood before we left our home, I’d like to believe that we all have those moments we can look back on and cherish.
