A spider and I have accidentally grown a relationship, and I know that my mother is smiling.

Back story:

Perhaps because of ‘Charlotte’s Web’, perhaps JUST BECAUSE, my mother had a fondness for spiders.  For decades, my family’s summer refuge was a rustic rented cottage on the shore of Lake Michigan, in the woods, with creeping creatures galore, large and small. This was their territory and we respected this.

During this time my father was the minister of the assembly of summer folk and every Sunday would don his robe to preach….until the spider of the house interferred. 

My father was famously good natured and even more famously noted for the sound of his hooting laughter that could be heard for miles.

One Sunday morning, in the midst of breakfast dishwashing, the hooting erupted from the upstairs bedroom, interspersed with “Oh GOSH! Oh BOY! NOW WHAT?” And so of course we all ran upstairs to see what was what. Dad had his church preaching robe splayed out on the bed and covering an entire side was a giant spider’s web with THOUSANDS of hatching eggs and tiny spiders running amuck in the web. He said “What am I going to do?” And my mother said “Nothing! Of course! Now the robe belongs to them and you’ll have to wear something else.”

And that was that.

Today’s story:

Every single morning, when I climb into my car, the side mirror is laced with a thick spider web so thickly that I cannot see one thing.  I climb out, remove it gently with a stiick, head out for day, and the next day, the same.

A few days ago, after a long traffic boggle on PCH, I decided to hose down my car. Whilst spraying the mirror, a large spider poked her head out from behing the glass and stared at me. I said  “OH” and continued spraying. I don’t know what I was thinking. 

The next morning, NO WEB. I was upset. What had I done? In my moment of ‘doing’ I had obliterated a companion-sort-of creature. I tried to see all of the lessons in this and accept them.

Three days passed. No spider. She was gone. 

And on the 4th day the web was back.

I am HAPPY. 

I think she is too.