Last night we sat outside, enjoying extended conversation after dinner — Jacob, Bill and me. It was the Golden Hour, and I noticed something. There weren’t any fireflies. Typically they illumine the hillside — a synchronized light show over our pasture and in the trees…

We were friends before there were cell phones or internet or any form of social media. We wrote love notes and talked on phones attached to the wall with long (and sometimes not-so-long) cords. We socialized at the skating rink and the town basketball court…

As a little girl, I remember walking along the back fencerow of our yard in search of milkweed — their pods gathered in clusters. The unattractive gray-brown outer coverings, once opened, revealed a glorious treasure – silky white fluff that floated on the wind. My…