A Pardon for Spiders

     I have an uncanny knack for finding spiders but not for killing them.  No, I have Bill do my dirty work with the closest paper towel, tissue or napkin. But lately I have a much more humane option, It's Liam rescuing the spiders and bringing them outside. 
     Once in middle school I screamed so loudly from the downstairs bathroom that my father literally lept down a flight of stairs to rescue me from what he thought surely must be an intruder.  Instead it was a daddy long legs on the wall that was respecting my space.  My brother won't let me forget about the time we were rock scrambling- we were climbing a wooden ladder and I had stopped to carve Bill + Jess into a rung with a Swiss Army Knife.  A slug crawled onto my finger and apparently I waved the knife in the air and almost stabbed my brother whose leg was just above mine.  I don't do well with insects and crawly creatures.
     I recognize that I have an inappropriate fear of creatures that can do me no real harm.  I was hoping not to pass this on to my children.  I didn't know how I could possibly not pass on my tendency to shriek when approached by 8 legs. Don't children copy their parents?  But somehow Liam just isn't afraid of creepy crawlies.  He picks them up and even lets them crawl on him.  Now this freaks me out and inside I'm getting all heeby jeeby, but instead of outwardly freaking out I just help him to the door to let out his new friend. 
     This week working on the garden, Liam did something I could never bring myself to do.  He picked up not just one worm here and there but a handful.  He giggled with his friend as he collected more and more worms.  We found a nest of ant eggs and the Josh and Liam watched them intently as they scampered around, trying to dig deeper away from us humans (it's a good thing too because we were about to till the soil).  They looked through a toy magnifying glass to see them up closer.
     My kids hear me screaming and they see Bill on a bug killing spree, but somehow they're not afraid of bugs.  And somehow they don't think to kill them either.  Poor Liam after a weekend in the woods is covered with bug bites because he didn't know to slap a bug off his skin (he was gently shooing them away instead).  I'm quite happy to know that I didn't pass on this fear to Liam and I'm hoping his interest in the creepy crawlies will encourage Joshua not to be afraid either.
     Last year we witnessed something amazing.  A spider had laid hundreds of tiny eggs on our playground and we got to see the newborn spiders hatching and setting out into the world.  We sat and watched as some ran and others let themselves be blown away.  Liam helped along others on leaves and sticks.  We talked about how some would make it and some would not. Just for that moment we ignored the fact that if any of them ended up in the house I would probably have it executed by Bill... unless that spider was lucky enough to be found by Liam and brought safely outside in his protective hands.