Ever have the realization that something you do just isn’t normal? I just did the other evening. I mean, I know I’m really nowhere close to being normal. Obviously. But I also don’t think I’m that bizarre. Of course, I measure my oddities while keeping in mind my surrounding community members here in Eugene. Some people here are so stinking weird. (Come visit. You’ll understand.) I guess if I were dropped into another community, I could be considered a freak show, what with my sarcasm and extensive vocabulary. Oh, and my tattoos. And sarcasm. But I totally digress…

 

The other evening, as I was  washing a couple of dishes in my kitchen (and you thought I washed them in the garage!), I found myself quite happy. My sink has a window directly behind it that faces my backyard. Great for sunlight in the house, and to bring cheer to my only surviving indoor plant. While I can successfully garden outdoors, bring me a plant to keep inside and it’s doomed. Seriously. My sons bought me a cactus for Mother’s Day, a cactus! They figured at least I wouldn’t be able to kill it. They were wrong. But my sole plant, my Cobra Lily thrives, even after a few years under my…*ahem* care. I’ve decided it’s probably only alive because it’s carnivorous and can fend for itself. It loves the sun in the window, eating flies and taking long walks on the beach. Anyway, as I was admiring it while scrubbing a pot, I noticed that the spider web above the plant finally caught a fly. It’s only a small web, about 6 inches across, and the resident spider is a friendly, polite garden spider.

 

Wait, what?!

 

As I happily watched the spider wrap up its dinner, I realized… Yeah. I’m a little bit weird. What am I thinking?

Who actually let’s a spider live in their window? 

What kind of person admires the spider at work?  In their home?!

Have I gone off the deep end? 

Most likely.

 

But if I’m honest, I’ll admit this isn’t even the first time this has occurred. I wont let just any ol’ arachnid reside indoors, or in any location. But sometimes I cannot resist their tenacity, their drive to create webs, even if it’s in the most inopportune location. So I usually admire them and leave them for a few days before I take them to a new home… outside.

 

I guess it could be said that I like spiders, though not quite all of them. But truthfully, bugs are fascinating to me. And even more so now that I get to experience them through the eyes of my sons. My boys light up when they play with bugs, and some of my happiest memories with them involve some kind of arachnid or insect. My youngest, Traben, used to gather as many daddy-long-legs as his hands could carry (once he had 19). He would bring them to our patio drop them next to where I was sitting so he could share them with me. It would then turn into a crazy, eight-legged, chaotic spider round-up. And I would laugh with him as he tried to corral them again and again (though I didn’t laugh so much when he tried to repeat this type of fun indoors). And snakes? Frogs? Lizards? Fun stuff! I have endless amounts of pictures of my boys with some type of creature or another. Dragonfly in hand, beetle on a face, handful of earthworms oozing between little fingers…

 

I guess as I ponder this, maybe it’s not that I’m so weird. I mean, I wont deny it, don’t get me wrong. But maybe it’s that there was a reason I was created to appreciate bugs. Actually, not maybe, definitely. Because, God with His infinite sense of humor and foresight knew what I’d have to deal with someday. And He knew if He created me to be squeamish I’d never survive something like this moment I captured…

 

Honestly, I’m not the biggest fan of snails…

 

And if you’re not the biggest fan of any of these creepy-crawlies, I understand. They’re not for everyone. But please know, for the record, I promise to remove any eight-legged friends from my home should you ever decide to come visit. That is,  unless you’d like to meet any of these buddies of mine, like my window-dwelling amigo, Jengo.

 

Are you afraid of bugs? Have you eaten any bugs? You think my reactions to bugs are weird? Would you like me to quit talking about  bugs now?