Fireflies

The summer I was seven, it was very hot and there were lots of fireflies every night in our yard in the house near Long Island Sound. I was sure that these swarms were sent by some magical hand which swished these flickering lights onto our lawn as dusk came. They danced and sparkled all over the lawn and I fell in love with them.

I felt I had to hold on to the beauty from their lights for as long as I could. I dragged my Dad out onto the lawn. "Look, Dad, aren't they beautiful?"

"Yes, they are!" In the dusk, I could see him smiling at my delight.

"Can you help me catch some? I love their lights so!"

"Well, yes, we probably could catch some in a mayonnaise jar and use some paper to put some air holes on the top . But you will have to let them go after a bit so they can live."

We got an almost empty mayonnaise jar, washed it out and made a paper top pricked with a pin for airholes. I ran around the yard until I had captured three of the dancing lights. The paper top went on and was secured by a rubber band. I watched in awe as the lights twinkled on and off. "I'm going to put them by my bed, so I can see them until I fall asleep and their light will be the first thing I see in the morning!"

My Dad put his arm around my shoulder. "If you imprison them that long, they will die because they need more oxygen and room than is in the jar."

"No, no, they won't die! They wouldn't do that!"

Dad hugged me and said, "Well, you do what you have to do and we'll talk in the morning."

So I put the jar with the fireflies in it by my bed and the last thing I saw before I slept was their light. And when I woke in the morning, it was as Dad had predicted. They lay, dead, jumbled in a heap of wings and bodies. With tears forming in my eyes, I stumbled down to breakfast and showed the jar to Dad.

Taking the jar gently from hands and putting it the table, he gave me a hug as my tears rolled onto his collar. Pushing me away a bit, he then looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Sometimes you must just enjoy beauty and let it go away and be glad that you have seen it. Then the memory of it will be with you forever."

For the rest of the summer, I would watch the fireflies at night for as long as I could. The memory of their sparkling light is with me decades later.

Bank of America

What the hell has happened to the bank where my Dad was the proud head of the Trust Department?

When he served the bank in CT, it was called the Hartford Connecticut Bank& Trust Co. and had a sterling reputation that dated back to the 1700's. After Dad retired in 1950, the bank began to merge and merge and grow like an overripe tomato. At one point, it went on a gargantuan spending spree and got so obese that Fleet Bank had to buy it out. And then came more spending sprees when it became Bank of America which continued the spending spree. BOA bought some of the worst assets ever...Country Wide and Merrill Lynch. Overall lending practices made a sane person cry and dishonest/illiterate/naive people ran to the doors of BOA and its subsidiaries to get more and more loans based on no income, no assets and no job.

BOA has had two government infusions of taxpayer's money and is now, probably, going to ask for more money from the government because it's almost broke again with a truckload of toxic assets to boot! BOA's behavior over an extended period of time is a prime example of the actions that that got us into the present US financial dung hole. Horrifically, the dung hole has widened and has dragged most of the rest of the world down with us into the dirty pit that the we have dug so well. Unfortunately, the rest of the world had enough sleazebags to match the greedy pusses in our country so that this financial disaster touches most of the capital in the rest of the world. As of now, no light can be seen reaching to the bottom of this wretched hole.

For reasons not connected to the sleazebags of the past few years, I managed to get two family trusts that benefit me out of BOA into another bank that did not engage in the above nefarious practices.I had objected to high fees and low performance with income coming to me which is often accepted by other recipients of trust money. After all, for most people, trust money is "found money". But my monthly check is essential money for me. And I'm doubly blessed because I'm lucky I'm not dead so I can enjoy what I have!

I was a true pain in the ass to BOA for years and I'm sure that the Hartford Probate Court judge drew a deep breath whenever he saw my name on the calendar. It took years of persistent work to get those trusts out of BOA and I'm proud of my work.

So here's to the Boys of Aphidland......So long, goodbye,and hello t0 6% a year!

Angels

I just had an angel walk in my open door. I wasn't wishing for it but somehow she knew she needed to help me. I was wrestling with a problem and then, basically out of the blue came some good advice without my even asking for it.

I feel so warm all over. Just the way I felt when I was with my Dad and I knew I was safe. But sometimes, now, my first angel, my Dad can't communicate with me the way he used to do. So I guess he just asked this other gal to step into his place, at least for a little while.