Cicadas Are Coming

2004 was a big year for me. I got married, we bought our first home, and I got hired for a new job (which I actually started in 2005). That seems like a lifetime ago, and it really was. It was before kids and even before I started this blog. And that's enough of being deep or going down memory lane. I mean, you already read the title. You know that this is about insects that come out of the ground every 17 years. Or maybe you don't. 

The Washington Post put together a guide about everything you need to know about the Brood X cicadas. Billions of cicadas are about to emerge from underground, and then they'll be here for several weeks eating and trying to mate. That actually sounds like a pretty good time! Brood X cicadas are only located in specific parts of the United States with the DC area being the center. So when I wrote "or maybe you don't" above, what I meant is that maybe you don't know anything about these cicadas. Prior to their emergence in 2004, they last came out in 1987. I was a kid in Pittsburgh then, and there were no cicadas in Western Pennsylvania. Since I wasn't alive for Brood X in 1970, I first learned about these cicadas in 2004. 

In the spring of 2004, I lived in an apartment complex with concrete everywhere with the streets and parking lots. I drove to my job in another area with an enormous parking lot and spent most of my time indoors. While I certainly saw cicadas and definitely heard them, I don't remember them being a big part of my life. Actually, what I remember most about them was driving either to or from Pittsburgh for a weekend of wedding planning and getting stuck in traffic on I-70 in Maryland. The cicadas were really, really loud as we moved very slowly on the interstate.

This year is going to be different. The neighborhood where I live now has a lot of trees and grass. I already shared some of my walks on my golf course. Cicadas are going to be everywhere. I'm honestly fascinated by them. It truly is a mystery of science that these cicadas emerge like clockwork every 17 years. You really only have the opportunity to see and hear them a few times in your lifetime. My kids are going to be adults when the cicadas return in 2038. Just remind me that I wrote this when I see and hear the cicadas everywhere and get annoyed by them in the next week or two!