Grill smell and lightning bugs

I'm home alone tonight. Not really a new or rare occurrence, but an opportunity to do exactly as I please, uninterrupted. I have to bartend later, but decided when I got home from the bookstore that I would grill out. I got home late, so it was already dusk when I fired up the charcoal and marinated the steak. I love the smooth rhythm of preparing dinner - doing dishes from earlier in the day while the charcoal becomes hot and the meat becomes tender in marinade. Heating the unshucked corn on the cob early on the not yet hot grill; laying out the steak sauce and butter for the corn and chopping lettuce and tomato for a salad. Then sitting on the deck surrounded by the scent of citronella and the aroma of charcoal grilled steak. Reading the next chapter of my art history text in preparation for teaching on Tuesday; watching the fireflies begin to light up across the yard. It was a rare moment of peace and contentment. And a lovely memory of childhood - the smell of the grill, the lightning bugs we used to collect in a mason jar with cheese cloth stretched over the top, a small area for dining outside. It is such a thrill for me to feel content and in control and channel my family and childhood all at the same time. Here's to summer nights, grilling and the ever-present security of lightning bugs in the dark.