Spiders

As fair warning this one is probably not going to be something that everyone will want to read (this next section particularly).  Odds are that the people most afraid of spiders skipped this week based on the title alone but if you were just brave enough to get this far and want a cute story about a spider then I suggest you skip the italicized paragraph.  

I have very limited experience with spiders but I like them.  They keep bugs under control and I love seeing the detail and variety in their webs.  I'm fine when I don't need to be near them but if there is even the slightest possibility that they could bite me I get away as quick as possible.

When I was in elementary school I was sitting in class and noticed that my hand was feeling like it was burning in one section and up my arm.  I looked down to find that my skin on the back of my hand was bubbling.  Yes it was as terrifying as it sounds. I got checked over at the doctor's and they found two bite marks on the same arm as my hand.   They diagnosed me as having an allergic reaction to spider bites that I would just have to wait till it went away.  Eventually it did fade but even with being more than 15 years ago the scars are still there.

The happiest story I have about a spider is from when I was working as a school photographer.  I was driving all around the province going for a day or a week to different towns and putting a lot of time in on the road.  I began to notice a spider web that was always in pristine condition on the passenger side rear view mirror of my car.  It was in the perfect position that the wind was broken by the mirror causing the web to sway just slightly in the draft rather than being ripped up.  I assumed that it was catching the odd bug but it never seemed dirty so  I left it in the interest of seeing what it would do over time.  I didn't really think about it all that much for the next couple of trips.

One day I was sitting in my parked car having my lunch and rather large spider came out from behind the side mirror and inspected the webbing.  It wandered about eating what it had caught on the drive down.  I was amused to have a lunch companion.  That evening on the way back to the city I could only assume it was back behind the mirror.  I was hopeful that it hadn't wandered away.  Nothing like stepping out for a walk and your home having driven off.  The next day a fresh new web was ready for the drive out of town.

This continued on for the whole summer. I would come out to find a new web or the spider sitting somewhere on the webbing.  As soon as I turned on my car that little arachnid was behind my mirror and ready to travel.  It was great having a little car companion for all those months and hours on the road.  I find that I actually miss him from time to time when I am driving around.

Essential life advice

I've lived a pretty quiet life.  I sometimes wonder if I've missed out on the sage advice that is supposed to come from elders to keep you from screwing up or to guide you.  I think our generation gets most of its words of wisdom from television, movies and books.  Nothing wrong with that, I just feel that I can be thankful that I have one poignant moment in my real life of advice.  And I have some nameless guy to thank.

It does make for a striking image.  The three of us sitting around a camp fire in the pine wood forest, the light from the stars barely illuminating the dark water of the lake through the trees.  Just me and my childhood friend sitting with a guy who must have been in his mid to late twenties. The light from the flames not big enough to see clearly inside the rim of his hood and under his baseball cap.  I think he knew my friend but I can't remember if his name was ever said.  There he sits in my mind hunched over actually saying the words "I want you to know something important, something I wish I had known"  The advice was to my friend, this young boy.  I think we were fifteen at the time... maybe a bit younger.  My friend was staring blankly into the fire and I was right next to him trying to stay as still as possible.  It felt like I'd stowed away along on some ritual right of passage for boys and if I moved at all the guy would stop talking.  I don't even think my friend was listening to him.  The guy said for my friend to find a woman who kept surprising him.  Someone who would say lets go horseback riding rather than go to a movie. 

I can't remember if he added anything to it passed that but I remembered walking away thinking that in order to find someone who surprises you, you have to be a person who is just as surprising.  To be a person worth that person's time.

Childhood memories

I get great fulfillment from my childhood observations matching up with my current assessment.

Mostly this comes from my enjoyment of the movie Anastasia this weekend. I headed up/down/over (what ever your point of reference) to Winnipeg and spent time with Sarah and the many people she's living and working with. They had tried to find the movie a few weeks earlier but Winnipeg apparently does not feel like stocking that movie for rental or purchase. Sad news for them. Thankfully they had me coming to visit with a VHS. There was the fear that our fond memories were going to be disappointed but watching was even better than remembered. Bartok maintained his title as the best part of the show as we laughed at his every line.

A second instance of childhood memories being justified is a great deal different. I went to a friend's birthday and we ended up watching The Muppets perform various songs. I was struck with the need to share a song that has been almost haunting me in my memories. For some reason I liked it as a child but remembered it to be creepy. I didn't really know if what still creeped me out was really that strange or just my memories coming in to mess around. For the longest time I had thought it was all a dream. It was one of the first things I looked for on youtube when it first started up. Nothing for several years... eventually someone did upload it.

I got to share it with my friends and have them end with saying:

"WHat the hell was that?!"
"That was on a kids show?!"

30 minutes later....
"...it's still in my head!"

I'll check back with them in 20 years and see if they still remember it. I'm guessing they will.

Enjoy.

You're Always Welcome At Our House.