Now join your hands, and with your hands, your hearts.
-William Shakespeare
Coming back to Provincetown at dusk one evening, we took Commercial Street from Route 6A in the far West End. Chris, Lina and I were on our way "home" to our quaint old summer rental for the week -The Old Homestead. We were about to head in for the night. After a few blocks, Lina stood up and indicated that she needed to get out of the car to do some business. Chris pulled over to let Lina and I out to walk while he went on up the road to find parking. I figured Lina needed to go potty. She took the lead, walking me up the street. I'm thinking she was just finding the perfect spot to do her business, or rather, I was probably not thinking. I was just following along. Lina was taking me through an old familiar territory and I hadn't realized it. She knew this walk, this is why she wanted out of the car! She was taking us back to another nearby favorite summer home on the bay that we'd rented a few years ago.
Chris soon caught up with us and Lina took us to a special private garden- a place that we knew. Lina is so funny when she gets in one of her moods to lead us on an adventure- revealing her wisdom. Usually she'll take a routine trek on our walks. However, just occasionally enough to be surprising, she'll get motivated to think outside the box! More often, she finds inspiration when we take a family walk. Perhaps having our "pack" together motivates her to get creative and explore more, or maybe she just wants to show us what a creative leader can do. We don't know, but she knows. She'll choose the way and break in a new route for us. It always makes me smile when I realize that she's doing it. This time was extra special. We were on vacation, and we were all feeling it. Besides, she wanted to visit her old familiar place.
We had been invited to this amazing garden some years ago when staying here on the far West End of Commercial Street. We visited the garden daily during those holidays. I still love this place and it's hard to explain how I felt explicitly welcome just walking my little dog right into this beautiful garden. All the while maintaining a feeling of serenity. Welcome.Lina took us in at dusk and I made up my mind that we'd have to come back in the daytime for a better viewing. Lina was loving it and she was taking her time, lingering in the growing darkness. I was happy to follow. She led me through the crushed seashell paths. Feeling some bug bites, I told myself I didn't mind- this is just something that happens on a June night. After some time we'd circled back to the front and we were about ready to exit. We paused, a feeling of deja vu came over me and all at once I knew why and turned around. I looked at the garden behind me. I gazed across the now dark scene and saw the lightning bugs. "Fireflies!" They were lighting up all over the garden. This was one of only a handful of times that we've ever seen them. They were putting on quite a display on this special June evening. I took my husband's hand and we watched them lighting up throughout the expanse in the darkness. 
We all love this garden, it truly is a special place for us. We visited again a few days later to take it in under the spectacular morning light. I cherish our memories going into this peaceful setting.
