e-pit-o-me (noun): a person or a thing that is a perfect example of a particular quality or type
Allow me to use it in a sentence. Lightning bugs are the absolute epitome of summertime.
Tonight, I was nine years old again. I was running up and down the giant hill of a back yard at my grandparents house with my Yankee cousin alongside. A Mason jar was surely involved. Quick, random sprints here and there to catch our prize - lightning bugs as we call them in the South.
Only did I snap back into reality during one of my sprints when I heard my 15 year old daughter cheer, "You go Momma!"
If you've never had the opportunity to experience what I just described, I'm a little sad for you. Yes, it's a simple little activity, but then again, isn't that what life's about - the simple pleasures?
I received a text from my "Yankee" cousin a few weeks ago. (I use the term affectionately, of course, after all I am married to one!) She was visiting a state a little further south than her home and spotted some lightning bugs. She too was instantly taken back to the hill behind our grandparents home where she came to visit each summer.
As several hours of rain showers finally decided to end tonight, my three kiddos and I went to run a few quick errands. Upon return, our tree lined, forty year old street was blinking bright, fluorescent yellow here and there. As we pulled into the drive, I said, "Come on guys, you're gonna help me catch some lightning bugs!"
My nutter butter got a Mason jar from the pantry, I pulled on my rain boots, and the sprinting began. We darted here; we dart there; we darted into the neighbor's yard... We filled the jar and watched the lightning bugs climb ever so easily up the side of the glass jar to the top as they do, making it so, so hard to add new ones to the collection. We were making memories. Memories that one day will come back to them. Come back to them when my three are grown and gone with yards of their own, they will spot a bright yellow blinking light and that urge will hit them to get their own Mason jar out of the pantry and sprint and dart around with their kiddos.
My nutter butter got a Mason jar from the pantry, I pulled on my rain boots, and the sprinting began. We darted here; we dart there; we darted into the neighbor's yard... We filled the jar and watched the lightning bugs climb ever so easily up the side of the glass jar to the top as they do, making it so, so hard to add new ones to the collection. We were making memories. Memories that one day will come back to them. Come back to them when my three are grown and gone with yards of their own, they will spot a bright yellow blinking light and that urge will hit them to get their own Mason jar out of the pantry and sprint and dart around with their kiddos.
e-pit-o-me (noun): a person or a thing that is a perfect example of a particular quality or type
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| This gruff looking little guy decided to join my photo shoot! |
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