‘Welcome to my parlor,’ said the spider to the fly

I pulled into the driveway recently exhausted from a long day. I had one of those days where I was running the minute I got into work, right up until the minute I left.

Unfortunately for me, my day wasn’t done. I left work and ran to several afterschool events and errands that kept me out well into the evening and left me physically and mentally exhausted.

I was ready for the week to be over and for the weekend to start. I felt like I had been gobbled up and spewed out by the events of the day. When I got home, I grabbed a glass of milk and stood in my kitchen flipping through the day’s mail.  When I looked up, I happened to notice a large imposing spider outside the kitchen window. The spider was attracted to the light coming from the kitchen and looked to be the king of its castle, strolling up up-and-down each side of its massive web.

My first thought was to make a mental note to clean the outside window over the weekend. Prepare to say goodbye Mr. Spider. My second thought was to acknowledge the massive web the spider had created and the work that went into making it. I half expected to see “Some Pig,” straight out of the book, “Charlotte’s Web,” scrawled in it. The web was quite impressive, to be exact, it was an engineering marvel. 

While I stood there, a moth flittered against the window. I tapped on the window in an attempt to scare the moth away, but that only made the moth flitter even more. Before it knew what happened, the moth was caught in the spider’s web. The moth desperately tried to flee, but it seemed to get even more entangled.

Soon the spider looked to be playing with its prey. I learned later that spiders literally vomit digestive matter on their prey, tenderizing its food so-to-speak, before they eat it. Yes, I know pretty disgusting. 

Watching this scene play-out, I quickly lost my appetite. A small part of me, though, felt thankful, even appreciative that my day hadn’t been as bad as it could have been. My day was crazy, but certainly ten times better than the moths. When I started thinking about it, I stopped feeling sorry for myself and started to think about all the things I was grateful for, including being busy.

Yes, I like to be in more control of my day, I like calmer, smoother days, but I’ll take a busy day over being the moth any day of the week. I remain no fan of spiders, but I have new perspective and am grateful for the spider for helping me to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I reminded myself that I would soon have the weekend to recharge my batteries and get me rolling again.  

Now about that spider’s web in my window. Mr. Spider, let me grab the outside water hose, some window cleaner, and let’s talk about the “circle of life.”