Cicadas Crash Into Me

Ok, it’s probably a little weird that I miss these little boogers. Why weird? Male cicadas play music to attract females. It’s like a reminder every 17 years of who I wasn’t in college. You remember those guys that could pick up a guitar and play any Dave Matthews song. It was rough for the rest of us. All we had to go on was our wit.  

And just imagine a few years ago when the cicadas showed up in Nashville. An insect that makes music in Music City? They had to be good. I bet they all hoped to come here and live the dream. Now they’ve settled down, they have a wife, they use a baby cicada bjorn, they’re changing little cicada diapers. The guitar’s in the corner collecting dust. They feel empty, like a shell of the wild cicada they used to be. 

But for that one crazy summer, they made music. And it was good. I can still hear the deafening melody. I can still see them flying around aimlessly. I can still recall Googling “Is it ok for my dog to eat a cicada.” But it was the harmonious buzz of summertime. Their sound synonymous with sweet tea and late sunsets. If asked why I miss cicadas…

That’s what I would say, Dave Matthews.

-Out of the Wilderness