Eight Legged Bullies

Many of us have irrational fears; I happen to have more than I probably should.  Heights, flying, snakes, the dark, tucking the back of my skirt into my underwear, public speaking, success, failure...the mere thought of any of these causes me to break out in a cold sweat.

There is one thing, though, that can paralyze me in fear: spiders.  I can't handle spiders.  I know, I know...spiders are good for us, they eat other bugs, blah, blah, blah.  I don't care.  They are scary, and I don't like them.

I could be minding my own business, then one little spider goes scurrying across my path, and boom.  Done. Completely frozen in fear.  Then, for days I'll have nightmares about the incident.  What is so horrible about an encounter with the little boogers?  I have no idea, but it truly is horrible.  I find myself constantly on the look out for potential spider attacks whenever I head to the basement to do laundry, if we're playing outside, even when selecting a bunch of bananas at the grocery store.  I'd say that 98% of the time, there is no spider...which is good, because if one did show up, I'd freeze and there would be absolutely nothing I could do about it.

I can remember visiting my aunt and uncle's cabin in Kentucky when I was little, and my sister and I came within inches of a huge, orange spider.  It was easily six inches long, as it was clinging to a board on the ceiling, all spread out like it owned the place.  Ugh.  The memory of that hideous creature still gives me the creeps.

Then, on my honeymoon in Mexico, I was apparently bitten by some eight legged monster.  Thankfully, I didn't see it, but on the plane home I felt like I had the flu (chills, fever).  I finally went to urgent care where the doctor guessed that I was having a reaction to a spider bite, and I was given a tetanus shot.  Good times to start off the marriage, ha!  I'm actually glad that I didn't see the spider, or I probably would have dropped dead from fear.

Since the kids are getting older, though, I'm really making an effort to contain my adverse feelings toward spiders.  I don't want them to inherit all my irrational fears; they should have the opportunity to develop their own.

I was really challenged this afternoon, after Alex insisted on dragging in a chair that has been on the patio all weekend.  Apparently, he thought it would be a nice addition to the living room.  I have always warned them that they'll invite creepy-crawlies into the house by bringing in their outside toys.  They don't listen to anything else, so I shouldn't be surprised that he didn't listen today.  And low and behold, not two minutes after he brought that stinking thing in, did I hear them screeching "SPIDER!!!"  Addie began running around, trying to find something to kill it with, and I heard Alex freaking out because she decided his new Pete the Cat book would be a good spider weapon.  What's a mom to do?  I took a deep breath, went running in, and squashed the little bastard.

I was a freaking spider ninja.

Ok, maybe not.  But I did look pretty cool in front of the kids, swooping in to save them from the big, bad spider (that was less than an inch big).  Yes, maybe I should have shown more compassion and taken it back outside.  But, hey, my house, my rules.

I will enjoy my act of heroism for now...and hopefully all the other little spiders will take note and stay outside, where they belong.

Baa, Baa, Red Sheep

This one has been rolling around in my head for the last week.  The kids' Spring Break kind of took up all my writing time...but they are back to school now, so here we go...

Last week, the world watched as Facebook lit up with red equal signs, a sign of support for marriage equality.  My profile picture was changed; I was proud to do it.  I firmly believe in equal rights for all people. Period.  No exceptions.  Beyond the fact that I feel like it's a no-brainer (haven't we watched other minority groups fight for equality in the past?  Why make group after group prove their worth??), I just don't feel like it's right for me to advocate for equal opportunities for my son with Down syndrome and his peers, and then sit back and say nothing when another group is being so blatantly discriminated against.  It makes no sense.  Who are we to decide who is worthy enough to enjoy the same rights, in this example, as heterosexuals in this country?  We've seen in the past that narrow-mindedness loses.  I strongly hope that it loses again.

One lovely feature of Facebook is the "stalker bar" where you can see what your friends are "liking".  You know what I'm referring to, and you've clicked on it; don't pretend you haven't.  I found myself being a busy-body last week, clicking from one entry to the next, to see what my friends were up to that morning.  I noticed that a friend "liked" a status from a conservative group, which was accusing everyone who changed their profile picture to the red symbol of the Human Rights Campaign of being a sheep.  A sheep?!?  Really? From a conservative group?  The same group of people who banded together to eat at Chik-Fil-A on the same day last summer?  The same group of people who went sideways on the Starbucks Facebook page last week when the CEO allegedly told everyone that if they don't believe in same-sex marriages to take their business elsewhere?  Puh-lease.  They are hardly in a position to call anyone a sheep for following suit with their like-minded peers.  It was a classic bully move, pure and simple.

I was irritated...I am irritated...by that comment.  Apparently, as with everything else, it's ok when your political group does something but completely unacceptable when the other party does the same thing.  I should know better; it's always been that way, and will continue to be that way.  Politics.  Ugh.

It's more than that this time, I think.  For a reason I can't wrap my head around, those who are against marriage equality are not only making it their job to fight against the issue, but also to drag down anyone who supports it.  Why?  Why do they care??  Religion is typically the reason thrown out to defend the objections, but we must remember that to be a citizen of this country, one needn't be a Christian.  It's ok to have those beliefs, and I absolutely respect that.  However, it is not ok to expect everyone in this country to abide by your personal beliefs.  End. Of. Story.

This issue will not soon go away, I fear.  Some people would rather watch others suffer and be treated as second-class citizens than support their equal rights as peers in our society. I will never understand why.  I won't try to understand it.  Instead, I'll continue to participate in this grassroots equality movement, even if it's just a small gesture of changing my Facebook profile picture to help spread awareness of the issue.  If that makes me a sheep, so be it.  Baa.