Black Widow Mama

Today I was watering with the hose. When I went to turn off the water, I saw a large black widow right underneath the faucet. I knew a spider had been living there. Because the web hadn't looked like a black widow's, I hadn't thought much of it until I saw her. She was large and that kind of beautiful that only a black widow can be. My children, however, play right there and often want to turn the water on and off. I couldn't risk them being bitten. Having a brother who was bitten by a black widow only makes me more nervous around them. DH was called into duty.

As he was getting the bug spray, the black widow wrapped her long, slender front legs around the egg sack I hadn't seen and pulled it into hiding.

It occurred to me how much she and I had in common. Both of us wanted nothing more than to protect our offspring.

Her last act has replayed itself into my head over and over. I feel terrible that we killed her. Doing so was definitely not living in harmony with the world around us. And to her, I'm sure I was the black widow.