And it’s good and frustrating and agonizing and joyful all mixed in together.
Documenting the highlights (especially of the summer favorites) sometimes tends to feel glossy and plastic in hindsight and as much as I love those summer days, I still want to remember the not-so-glossy stuff: Dave and my big fat fight the other day about dumb family pictures, the drama of four girls and the emotions we’re wading through as we try to raise them (which sometimes turns out to be pretty hilarious), the doors that slam, the continual battle of wills.
So I sat down on Friday and wrote down a little bit of real life that’s happening right here and right now all around me. Not a lot of grit, just kind of an ordinary morning around here…with a little unwelcome house guest 🙂
Max had his last day of work on Thursday because Friday morning he headed in bright and early to get his wisdom teeth pulled.
It was the regular: family scriptures, breakfast, a scramble to get the high schoolers out the door.
As Max was getting ready leave, Grace was joking about how he was going to “lose his wisdom,” Claire was instructing us to make sure to get some good footage of him as he came out of the anesthesia, Elle was claiming that Max wouldn’t be funny at all, and Lucy was rambling on about whether she did or did not like breakfast (I can’t remember which but she’s not shy about sharing her opinions about food), we all noticed a HUMONGOUS spider crawling out from the pantry closet.
I’m telling you, it was giant.
Dave slipped off his flip flop and smashed it at which point it looked like some sci-fi movie where the alien turns to powder. It looked like it almost disintegrated into countless dusty pieces.
Except, to our dismay, we realized when those tiny specs of dust started moving, it wasn’t powder at all.
It was teeny tiny baby spiders.
Hundreds of them!
It gives me the heeby-jeebies to write this down let alone stand there as those things scattered.
Everyone yelped in hysteria. Dave scrambled to find some bug spray and came out with WD-40 instead which didn’t so much kill the bugs as it did oil the floor and we all danced around trying to squish those little teeny things.
Lucy screeched and pulled herself up on the counter. She couldn’t see the baby spiders, but after everyone’s reaction she was freaked out and wailed that she felt them all over her.
…Which was a perfect segway to get the little girls to head to the tub (way overdue). After they were done Claire was completely convinced that one of those baby spiders had made it into her ear. I tried to talk her out of that idea three times claiming spiders don’t really like people’s ears but I was obviously not overly convincing since tears were plopping off of her cheeks as she plunked through her piano lesson.
Luckily she perked up again when she remembered the videos I was heading out to get of Max at the oral surgeon. Lucy speedy-quick finished her math homework we forgot last night, we got the last of the lunches packed up, we opted to drive to the bus stop since we were too late to ride bikes and just like that, they were all gone.
I ran to the dr. office where Max and Dave were just getting ready to head home, Max pale as a ghost but in good spirits. Much to Claire’s future chagrin, not overly goofy/funny, dang it!
Life is good. And not-so-glossy and beautiful in so many ways.
And I love the ordinary days that I sometimes fail to stop and see the beauty in…spiders and sibling rivalry and continual messes and sunsets and hugs and whining and laughter all mixed in together to make it tangible and real.
There are golden moments that come in so many unexpected ways if I stop long enough to be grateful for them.
Everyday life is always full of adventure/chaos/temper tantrums/hard stuff/joy!
Just the thought of that huge spider – & all those babies – made me cringe, in-fact I was almost afraid to continue reading in-case there was any pix of them.:)
I laughed about Dave grabbing a tin of WD 40, that was brill.:)
I live on my own, so have to deal with spiders myself. I hate it when I'm watching the telly at night & suddenly see one crawling across the lounge floor – they always seem to start coming out at time of year.
Thank you for keeping your blog real – & for making me laugh today.:)
P.S. I hope Max recovered OK from having his wisdom teeth out – I laughed at how Claire wanted funny pix/video of him.:)
EW! I'm all itchy now!
Ughtfttdyfvjhbuthvt! No words regarding the spiders. NO WORDS! Glad to know my husband and I aren't the only ones that can turn family pictures into a fight.
I hate to dwell on the spider, but this was only the second time I had heard of such a thing. The other was when two of our missionaries in a tropical country came home to see a huge spider on the wall. The electricity went off which was often the case, so they lit a candle and then used a can of bug spray that acted as a flame thrower while they swatted at the spider only to find all these baby spiders emerging! I hate to relate this story as it gives me the creeps each time and I don't know why I felt the need to do so here!!! I thought spiders laid eggs but evidently not all of them do.
Oh my, I remember spiders like that so well! We lived in Tanzania for several years and that happened over and over. I still get the shivers thinking about it! Hope Max is all better now. Yay for a new year of school!
The spider incident has happened to me as well 🙁 The image is seared into my brain!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! The spiders are so gross.
Spiders are such crazy scary-ness! We decided…years ago…they are probably just as afraid of us as we are of them…and put forth a new course of action. After looking up, online, all the amazing things spiders do to keep our world's insects "in check" from over running us…(without the use of pesticides) we thought we needed to help keep these critters on the job by releasing them far away from our home. So now…when we spot a spider..big (and they can be darn big around these parts!) or small…we find a large glass…and put it over the spider…slide a thin card board (junk mail ads work great) under the glass..and carry our new friend a few blocks away from the house into a large field…or in a bed of flowers. The funny thing is the spiders remain remarkably calm..and we do too. Win-Win ! Now…when we run across a Scorpion… well let's just say those little monsters get a different welcome. 🙂
I can't believe you didn't take (and post) any pictures of this event. I love your photographs and how you capture the events and emotions of the day. (And perhaps you may NOT want to remember this event and all its craziness). I just thought it would be funny to look back on and laugh about someday…in the far future.
That happened to me! It was my first day of college and I found a nasty big spider in the bathroom. My roommate killed it for me because I was too terrified, and same thing…a hundred spiders exploded out of that thing! If it is the same type as in Utah it is called a wolf spider. Nature is nasty sometimes!
Those spiders are creepy town scary! I was at my sons soccer practice and was on my phone when one walked right past my foot on the sidewalk. I took off my flip flop and hit it (while still on the phone) and it exploded with hundreds of babies. I freaked the freak out! On the phone. At soccer practice. In front of everyone. It's hard to explain, but I'm sure you get it!!
Thanks for the reminder that things are not always so simple, but beautiful at the same time!
Terrifying!!!
I just can't even imagine all those spiders. I think I would just have to die right there and then. AHH! And even though I of course don't *like* to hear that other people have fights with spouses or frustrating kids…..I kind of like hearing that other people have fights with their spouses and parenting moments that are not shiny and happy. Just makes me feel more normal and less down on myself (or my family/relationship) when I'm reminded that no one else has perfect/amazing/enviable everything, either.
Always vacuum spiders …