It’s funny the little memories that appear in your mind on occasion. I remember my daughter being afraid of spiders. I used to be until I realised my mum’s fear rubbed off on me when masked. I don’t actually mind spiders as it turns out.
This particular day, my daughter found a pretty large spider in the kitchen. She ran to get a shoe to kill it. I stopped her before she got back to the kitchen and tried to explain. Spiders need homes too because they help keep other insects like flies from overpopulating. That without spiders flies would be everywhere. She understood that there is a balance in the world, in nature that is important. Just look at the impact on the bee population over the last 50 years. Things like that can have very serious consequences if they continue to decline.
I had done it, I had convinced her that we should get a plate and bowl to catch the spider. We would then go outside and let it go free to find somewhere else to live.
It all went to plan, I had caught the spider (who was pretty darn fast) and got It outside. It was a warm day so I was sure It would be alright. I gently placed the plate down and removed the bowl. It stayed completely still for a second and then ran off down the path. It sprinted the distance and went onto the road, right under the tyre of a passing car.
I felt so bad, made worse by the fact Megan looked at me as if she was about to cry. I said to her, “You seriously can't blame me for that.”, “I was trying to be nice to it.”.
All our best and love
Ross Fraser and Jeni Dern
Written by – Ross Fraser
