July 17

I spent my earliest days in a far less suburban place than I live now, surrounded by large expanses of countryside and clear, blue sky. There were lightning bugs that flickered on and off during humid summer nights and heat lightning and tiny purple violets that dotted the grass. And there were these, too:

They're itty bitty clover flowers, which --way back when-- I loved to pick and arrange into equally itty bitty bouquets. So when I saw a bunch of them outside the boys' baseball clinic this afternoon, I remembered those days and smiled to myself.

You can't ever go back, of course, but you can always remember and smile.