Chasing Lightning Bugs Studio Blog

tonight was an evening that the light walked along with us.  through the trees.  in the grass.  illuminating the old buildings, lighting them up from within.  hitting them at just the right angle so the windows thrust the empty rooms at me as i approached the stone buildings.
there was a boy who kept appearing.  alone.  a young boy.  10 or 11.  tasting freedom.  he walked with the floppy careless walk of a ten year old.  he had his dog with him....a small yellow dog that kept getting under his feet.  i saw him on the foot bridge.  i saw him at the pebble beach.  i saw him in the middle of the grassy, unused baseball diamond.  the leash got in his way.  and the light seemed to confuse him a bit as it glared off the water.  he lumbered along with no purpose other than enjoying that he could.  that he was off on his own sort of adventure with his dog. 
and then another boy.  a boy on the path with his parents.  maybe a bit younger than the first boy.  dribbling a basketball as he walked.  his mother staying a little too tightly to his side.  like she was realizing for the first time that he could walk along without her protective hand at the ready.  you could see she wasn't ready for him not to need her. and the father walked ahead, keeping a distance between them, wishing he was somewhere else, or with someone else.  
tonight was the type of night all sorts of secrets revealed themselves.  a summer night that brings all the truth to the surface.  maybe this is partly why coming of age always seems to be helped along by summer.