Janes family: Cicadas

This story starts four days ago when I discovered a fairly recently-molted cicada and thought how awesome it would have been to have witnessed the whole process.

Fast forward to Sunday night. I was out for a quick walk to see my friend Jack. On the way home, I came upon a cicada walking down the same sidewalk I was. I stopped to observe it, because I had never seen one in its little brown shell walking. I usually see the shells (which I've since learned are called "exuviae") empty and hanging on a tree. In fact, I've always enjoyed picking the exuviae off the trees and sticking them on people. One time I even covered the front of my shirt with them and gave my nephew a big crunchy hug.

So while I was bent over thinking how strange it was to see an occupied shell, it started climbing up my shoe. I realized at that moment that it was looking for a tree to climb so it could molt and that it had chosen me to be its tree. It inched up my sock and latched onto my bare leg skin, which was entirely unpleasant. Those little hooks that hold the shell onto the tree are very sharp!

It took an excruciatingly long time to climb my leg, during which time I was just standing there on the sidewalk waiting for it to get onto my shirt so I could start walking again. It finally mounted my shirt and I started walking slowly towards home. It had started raining by this point, so thankfully I was only a couple blocks from home. Someone asked me later why I didn't just flick it off. It was going through the biggest change of its life, and it had chosen me to be part of it. It never occurred to me to flick it off.

By the time I got home, it was at the top of my shirt, about to enter my neck. Mike was watching a Cubs game on TV when I came in and said, "I've gotten myself into a bit of a predicament..." and he said, "Of course you have. What is it this time?" I stood between him and the TV and said, "There's a cicada molting on my neck."

That was even more painful than when it was on my leg. I gently unhooked it and put it on the drapes. It climbed up to a point where I couldn't easily watch the show, and it was after 10 p.m. by then, so I took the drapes down and took them to bed with me. The show went on for another hour, with its shell splitting open and the newly molted cicada emerging. It was completely captivating!

After he had been out letting his wings dry for awhile, I put him outside to finish the process and fly away. I couldn't sleep because I was all juiced up from the excitement of having the opportunity to watch such an amazing thing. I thought that was the end of the story.

Two nights later, still basking in the glow of that experience, I was walking the same route to see Jack. At the exact same spot on the same sidewalk, there was a brown-shelled cicada walking towards me! I couldn't believe it. I thought I was dreaming. I stopped to consider the implausibility of it, and sure enough, it mounted my shoe and started climbing. This time I unhooked it and put it on my shirt while I walked home. When I got home, I put it on our tree and watched it for the next hour, in awe that I was chosen for this special gift AGAIN!

I've wanted to see this my whole life, and suddenly I got to see it not once, but twice in the same week.
7/25/18 UPDATE:
Last night I found another one. Same time, same exact place. I noticed that there's a tree near there that has been cut down recently, so my theory is that when they went underground they were planning on molting on that tree, but since the tree has since disappeared, they are left to wander aimlessly when they emerge. Here are pictures of last night's molt:

He was taking forever, so I took a break from my constant vigilance and took a shower. When I got back ten minutes later, his shell had cracked open this much.