Family Stories Part 2 All About Spiders

Sticking with hubby's side of the family to start with, my gorgeous father in law told me the story about how once when he was working night shift at Heinz in Melbourne, he got in his car to drive home and the sun was just rising and was very bright in his eyes.  So he popped the sun visor down, to be greeted by the biggest and hairiest huntsman spider he had ever seen!!!  It slid down onto the seat between his legs, so rather than stop he just drove on home without sitting on the seat!!  True story.  Apparently when he got home he just couldn't find that spider anywhere!


Which brings me to a story from my Dad's side of the family.  His Aunty Min (another beautiful person I had in my life) once put on her woollen dressing gown and walked around for quite a while with a scratchy armpit.  She kept thinking it was just a piece of thread, and eventually took off the dressing gown to find a nice huntsman spider nestled there.


My mother has an unreasonable fear (well it might even be a phobia!!) about spiders.  I remember one night leaving my Grandma's place at night and my brother (always the prankster) cried out 'look out Mum, there's a spider above your head'.  Mum, who I think was carrying something at the time, threw her arm up and nearly took my Dad's (or was it my step-dad's) head off.


My middle daughter A (and my eldest daughter C too actually) share my mother's fear.  I remember visiting my daughter A up in Port Hedland.  I found an amazing amount of dead spider's covered in what looked like a can of fly-spray for each of them, they were white with the stuff.  She still kills them that way!!


Daughter C and I were once driving down the freeway, she was driving, and a huge huntsman crawled up the windscreen.  My daughter nearly jumped out of the door, seriously I thought she was going to.  She pulled over to the emergency stopping lane, shaking and crying until I convinced her that the spider couldn't get inside (we closed all the vents and windows to be sure) and eventually she calmed down and we drove on to our destination.  Again we never found the spider.


Then there was the time, A and I drove to Gosnells in my car, with her daughter C, just a baby asleep in the car seat in the back.  When we arrived and I opened the back door to get C out, there was a huntsman in the door well.  Gave both of a us a little bit of a shock, even me, who is okay with spiders as long as they stay away from my body (I can look at them without any issue, but don't like the thought of them on me).  We got baby C out and then managed to knock the spider out with a stick.


Which brings me to two red-back spider stories, both which involve me.  The first was when I was heavily pregnant with my first child.  At that time my step-father was a part time student at the University of WA.  Mum and I popped down there to pick him up one afternoon and got there a little early.  We went to sit down on a garden seat, my bottom was almost on the seat when my mother grabbed my arm and launched me across the garden.  In shock I looked at her with a 'What The' look on my face.  She just pointed to the red-back web (with red-back) that I almost sat on!  Somehow she saw it there.

Then there was the time when I was pregnant with my third child and we were visiting Mum's and I was sitting on a stool in her kitchen, when a red-back crawled up my leg.  Mum, even with her phobia, calmly swatted it off my leg before she stepped on it.   Mother's can overcome even their biggest fears if there children are at risk.


Now I went searching for huntsman and red-back spider images and decided I wouldn't use any, cause even I got a little freaked when they all came up on Google - lol.  

Thanks for popping by xxxx

A Lesson For Us To Learn

Today we put my DH's Mum's ashes to rest with his Dad. My DH spoke so beautifully about his belief that the 2 of them are together now, and that his Mum no longer has her shuffle or her slurred speech (she had Parkinsons) and that the 2 of them were dancing together (they were beautiful dancers).

After the brief ceremony we went back to one of his sister's houses to sort through the remaining boxes of his mother's stuff. A lot of the everyday items were sold or given to family when she moved into the nursing home a few years ago, but there were about 10 boxes of varying sizes that she would not part with. So my s-i-l had stored them at her place just in case my m-i-l wanted anything - she never did, but that was her wish.

It took around 3 hours for us to choose what each of us wanted to keep - there was no fighting over any of these things - everyone was open and honest about what they wanted and what they didn't. However what became apparent to me and left me with a sense of sadness, was that the items taken were so few in comparison to the items available. So the pile of items going to the antique/second hand dealer is large and I am sure there is some items that are worth something in a monetary sense but the tragedy is that they also are worth far more in a sentimental and family sense. She had kept all her precious wedding presents - most never used. There was some jewelry, some of it her mothers and some of it hers - but none of the family knew which was which or why some of the other items she has felt so passionately about keeping were kept. They meant something to her, but nothing to us.

So please talk to your children about the past, show them the things that mean a lot to you, tell them the stories of your mother's jewelry or grandmothers buttons, or whatever it is. For if like us today, you don't know the stories - you can not feel a connection to that which is left behind. My m-i-l was never a great talker, and so if this is you, then take a photo and write down a note to explain and leave it with the item - anything to give your children and grandchildren a window to the past and a chance to connect. For once it is gone it is gone - there were some beautiful pieces of china that I am sure had stories to go with them, it is just we never heard the story when my m-i-l was alive and so to us they were just bits of china - nothing more, nothing less, but to her they must have meant a lot.