I was perusing online news this past weekend and a headline caught my eye. It seemed eerily familiar. I read its first few lines and remembered. I never shared it before as it wasn’t my story to tell. Now that it’s on the interwebs for the the whole wide world to see…
A few years ago Mister and I were visiting friends in St. Louis. They were telling us a real-life horror story about their dream home – a dream home that became a house of nightmares. The short version is this: immediately after moving in, they and their children began encountering spiders. Brown Recluse Spiders, to be precise.
For those who don’t know, Brown Recluse Spiders are not our friends. Sure, the wiki page devoted to them states their bites are “uncommon” and that the spiders are “rarely aggressive.” Oh, yeah? Well I hear or read a story on a fairly regular basis about someone being bitten and losing a huge chunk of flesh from their person to the necrotic effects of this spider’s venom. Personally, I consider gangrenous ills to be a most unwanted and unfriendly experience. And in the cases I’ve heard about, the affected persons encountered a spider. As in singular, not plural.
Anyhoo, as our friends told us – the spiders were showing up regularly and in frightening numbers. Exterminators were engaged. The spiders persisted. Academic professionals were consulted. The spiders persisted. The children were so terrified (and rightfully so), they all climbed into their parents’ bed each night – but only after a thorough search to make sure the bed was spider-free. No place was safe, not even the shower. When our friends told us about the spider craziness a couple of years back, they were still trying to live in the house. Still trying to figure a way out of their 8-legged dilemma.
Cut to the AP story I read a few days ago. The bad dream is ongoing. (You can read about their saga here.) I plan to wait a while before reaching out to them, as I’m guessing they must surely need a break from this unbelievable chapter in their lives. And just so you know, these are good people. They are a darling couple and their family is love-filled. Their experience is a sad example of how life sometimes makes zero-point-zero sense.
I don’t know what to think of all this. I can’t imagine what our friends think either, or how they’re managing to process what they’ve been through. What they’re going through. But I’ll tell you this – when I picture them, I do not see spiders. Instead, I see their smiles and hear their laughter. I see their love for each other, made tangible before my very eyes. No matter how this ugly part of life plays out, I sincerely hope the strength of their love will carry them through to the other side. And I cannot help but believe their next dream home will prove to be one from which they never wish to wake. With nary a damned spider in sight.