Yes, There Is Poop. Clean It Up And Sing.

There are spiders everywhere. Everywhere. I go to water the porch plants and walk through a web or pull thorn vines from a tree and end up with banana spiders perched on the brim of my cap. Thank goodness I do not suffer from arachnophobia. I mean, I don't want them crawling on me but I'm not going to go into hysterics if one does.

Lis suggested a long time ago that I write a post entitled Spiders In The Southern Home: Where Do We Draw The Line?

It's hard to know where to draw that line. The one that's making a web that I punch through every time I turn on the porch light has got to go. Meanwhile, the banana spiders on the front porch stay because (a) they trap and eat many mosquitoes, and (b) they're sort of awesome.

I feel sort of like I'm walking through webs these days. Awesomeness and uckiness both at the same time. I am so blessed with so many joys in my life right now that there is more than a whiff of ungratefulness in even saying the word "depression" but there it is. The beautiful spider makes her impossible web and invites our wonder and yet below her is a pile of poop because yes, my darlings, spiders poop. A lot.

Sometimes I think that the more I have to be joyful about, the more depressed I get. And I'm sure a qualified therapist would point out the connection. "You don't feel you have a right to happiness. You feel the NEED to suffer and so if there is nothing to suffer about, you concoct a few on your own."

Okay. That was about five hundred dollars worth of therapy, right there.

Still, there it is.

And when I woke up this morning, my whole soul was drowning in the unbearable honor of what all I've been given and screaming at the obvious injustice of it and yelling that I need to GET MY SHIT TOGETHER YOU WORTHLESS ANIMAL, GOD, CLEAN THE HOUSE AT LEAST! IT'S A PIT! GO TAKE A WALK, DO SOME FUCKING PUSH-UPS, STOP COMPLAINING, LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE! YOU'RE GOING TO BE A GRANDMOTHER AND YOU'RE GOING TO MEXICO IN TWO WEEKS AND TWO DAYS! TAKE THE TRASH TO THE DUMP! CLEAN OFF YOUR HUSBAND'S DRESSER!

Yeah. Phew. Too much happiness sends me right down the tubes.

Okay, okay. I hear you. Some days are meant for action, not inward reflection. And I know it.

I just made the very best smoothie ever. Yogurt, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, flax, prunes (they make it sweet AND add fiber), almonds and banana. I am going to take a walk. I am going to bust my ass over this house today. I am going to make it pretty and clean and smelling of Fabuloso, white vinegar and Murphy's Oil soap. I am going to cherish this old house with my sweat and pick fresh flowers to put in vases in it.

I am going to be grateful for my blessings and I am going to cherish them. Go read HoneyLuna's post and see how much I have to be grateful for- and she is just one quarter of my children. If you are new to this blog, two of my other children have blogs, too. They are Downtown Guy and Miss Maybelle. The other child, Lily, is too busy working and creating life in her womb to blog. She is writing her life with action.

All right. I feel better. Spider poop and dust and need-to-suffer and all. I'll go take my walk and that should take care of the rest of that need, although it's not supposed to get over 85 degrees today which will feel like a vacation on the Swiss Alps, I'm sure.

And also let me say that I am thinking of Lon and Lis today who are celebrating their thirtieth wedding anniversary. THIRTY YEARS of sweetness and hard work and music together. Here is a picture I snagged off the internet of them onstage. Another major blessing in my life is their friendship.


They both have their eyes closed and have smiles on their faces. I think they are singing a love song, their voices dipping and blending and sweetening each other with the harmony that only two people who have been loving and playing together for over thirty years can create.

Happy anniversary, you two. I love and adore you.

And happy day to all of us.
Now. Let's fight our ways out of all the many webs we manage to get tangled in.
Let's get moving.