I love cicadas of all kinds and enjoyed your article (Sex-mad and spectacular: 17 incredible facts about cicadas, 26 May). One incredible fact is that people would choose to leave town to avoid them when they appear after 17 years underground, and that the entomologist Gene Kritsky, the source of the 17 incredible facts, helps people plan weddings to avoid cicadas rather than to coincide with them.
In 1990, I got married in June at the Morton Arboretum in suburban Chicago. This was before the internet; I had no TV and, as a grad student, had left the wedding planning to my future mother-in-law, who lived on-site. So I had no idea that my wedding was to be joined by thousands upon thousands of beautiful, noisy guests – Brood XIII. They were a huge hit with all of us. It was a beautiful accident of timing.
My partner and children travelled back to the Morton Arboretum in 2007 for our first cicada anniversary, and we’re making plans for our second cicada anniversary in 2024. I don’t care about the “material by year” anniversary gifts, but marking every 17 years with an insect has been magical.
Lisa A Moline
Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, US
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