It was kind of funny….

If you have been visiting me for a while, you know this young man is my oldest daughter’s boyfriend.  He is a good kid….good to her and to me.  But he also has to watch out for me now. 

A little back story before I continue……today we were going shopping at a larger mall than our own in another city fairly close by.  The mall that is closest to our house doesn’t have a couple of the stores my daughter likes to shop at so we planned this trip.  Included in our adventure was my younger sister, who was dropped at my house a little while before our departure.  The cast of characters at the house was myself, my sister, my daughters and my oldest daughters boyfriend.

I’m terrified of snakes…..terrified!   Just the thought of one in my immediate area starts me panicking almost to the point of hyper-ventilating.  I have tried to overcome my fear….I even attempted to take a photo of a water moccasin one evening not too long ago.  Hard as I try, my instinct is to run for my life ~ screaming of course.   So this morning when my oldest pointed out that there was a snake in my backyard….my backyard where I have spent countless hours recently…..I screamed.  Granted, it was a small snake ~ smaller than the one I saw not so long ago ~ but full panic mode set in as per normal. 

My sister was with my youngest in another part of the house when the snake discovery was made…..so naturally after I screamed, everyone came running, everyone but my daughter’s boyfriend.  My oldest and I called for him to come quick and get the snake…..I really don’t know what I expected him to do with it, I just wanted it to stop slithering around my patio and looking at me through the glass door.  My youngest declared she wasn’t afraid and went outside to grab it when I reminded her that snakes did bite.  Suddenly she wasn’t quite so brave, but she grabbed a stick believing she could pick it up with that.  She touched it with the stick….it moved….I screamed….it slithered away. 

About this time, the boyfriend finally arrives on the scene and as I admonish him for taking far too long to come, we all carefully venture outside to see where it went.  No sign, but the boyfriend takes Cailin’s stick and starts to look around, poking here and there.  In the meantime, because we are all outside I start to talk about the rain barrel with my sister…snake still fresh in my mind, but I’m moving on….heart rate has gone down, nerves calmer, life is good. 

 The boyfriend has known me for awhile but there was one thing he didn’t know about me……he didn’t know  how terrified of snakes I am.  With my back to him, he took the stick and wiggled it around my bare feet as he brushed it up against them.  That exact moment is still kind of a blur to me and all I can really remember is the blood curdling scream that escaped from me.  The events as described by the hysterically laughing children and sister were I jumped quite high as I screamed loud enough for folks within a five mile radius to hear.  I said something rather unpleasant to the boyfriend, who was doubled over in laughter by the way.  I hobbled into the house because I came down kind of hard on my bad foot and sat down on my bed for a minute.  I could hear my oldest telling her boyfriend to quit laughing, it wasn’t funny, he could have hurt me and suddenly I couldn’t help but laugh…..and laugh.  When my oldest realized I was alright, she laughed along with the rest of us….although they were all laughing much harder than I was ~ apparently it was quite a site to see. 

I saw my neighbor this evening when we returned from the mall.  I called out to him to warn him about the snake ~ he has a dog and I didn’t want anything to happen to her.  He asked if I heard a blood curdling scream this morning ~ I had to admit it was me.  And the boyfriend…..he has been warned.  I understand he is afraid of spiders….I could find some spiders and put them all over him when he wasn’t expecting it….if only I wasn’t afraid of them! 

PS ~ is it weird I keep breaking out in laughter every time I think about it?  😀