“Little Bella” has always been and still is a ‘free spirit’ at heart.  She loved running around giggling playing chase with her siblings at the pool or tennis at her granddaddy’s homemade tennis court behind the ‘little white house on the hill’.  She loved anything outdoors whether it was building tree forts with her favorite cousin, ‘Little David’ and her little brother, Warren, or chasing the colorful butterflies in grandma’s garden with her prized little butterfly net.

Her favorite pastime, however, was running wildly about chasing fireflies at dusk with her little brother and  sneaking their ‘bounty’ they’d stuffed proudly into mason jars upstairs to their bedroom where for hours they would tell ghost stories under the covers lit by the magical blinking lights.  For fear of waking their parents, try as they may, laughing wildly trying not to make a peep, they would make shadow puppets on the wall until they began to fall asleep.  And all of the little ‘glow bugs’, one by one, they’d set free, giggling to each other watching them fade into the night,  whispering one last farewell before crossing over into their little dream world where they too could be free, “Good night; sleep tight; don’t let the fireflies bite!”