Push Thru It! Spider Crickets

Every seemingly together life has its "behind the scenes" and mine, as the weather gets colder, happens to be spider crickets.  They live in the Cricket Metropolis crawl space under the house, finding their way into our home through the pipes of my bathtub, the scene of relaxing bubble baths, Chardonnay and serenity after a long day.  More recently, I have been derailed in my already spotty evening routine by the shrill screams of my daughter shrieking "SPIDER CRICKET!" followed by a leap to a counter to escape the far cry from Jiminy she has come to know through our  nostalgic Pinocchio watching.  "Mommy will take care of it, "  I confidently assure her, despite flashbacks of an early childhood camping trip trauma and sleeping bag fraught with millions of insects "snug as a bug" and tucked in for the night.   I heroically and humanely whisk the gittering, giant, pre-historic bug back to the great outdoors scooping and throwing him like a pair of unlucky dice.  He is one of an unwelcome pack, perhaps a close-knit, extended cricket family paying a visit.  I make my way back to my $5.00 rubber bathtub stopper to put an end to this cricket hot spot for the night. 

The crickets are a mainstay in our life this time of year, similar to fragrant fall candles whose pumpkin aroma fills our home.  I am careful to warn cable guys and electricians who may venture under the house, an appropriate caution after one banged his head several times, jumping higher that the crickets who greeted him - and likely quitting his new job shortly thereafter.  I whip open the shower curtain each morning, having shaken a few loose from my Bath and Body Works decorative liner last year.  I go about my day and my shower, stopper unstopped and confident in their retreat so the water can drain. 

Peaceful, polished and poised, we start our day.  Pretty lipstick and lash lengthening mascara, I am all buttoned up.  Sugar plums dancing in my daughter's head, I tiptoe through the morning routine.    As the temperature drops and the day unfolds, we will await and embrace the hopping reminder that despite careful appearances, we all have our spider crickets.                        

• What lies behind the scenes in your life?  
• How can you embrace and find humor and humanity in it?

Dedicated to my sister, Kathy, who shared the Rehoboth Bay childhood camping trauma  and bristles around bugs to this day.