I like to think I am a pretty brave person. I enjoy a challenge and see most things that are hard as learning experiences. I try not to dwell on the negative and look for the good in things.

There are some things…that just don’t have enough good in them to make up for the bad. Take the play I went to the other night. It was a free play, tickets were given to me because I am a teacher. I love this perk of teaching! I have seen some really great plays this way! I’m sure the motivation behind the tickets is to get us to bring our classes to see plays on field trips. I actually did this last fall and it was great.

I have always felt like plays were kind of a ‘safe’ form of entertainment. People are up on the stage, actually acting things out, in front of actually people. How bad can it be? I guess my little bubble was pretty small. I went to the play Wednesday, assuming it would be good. Assuming it would be appropriate. Assuming I had nothing to be afraid of.

I should have been afraid. It was absolutely awful. Let me clarify: The actors were great. The scenery was great. The choreography was beautiful. The content was horrid. HORRID! I wanted to get up and leave after about 15 minutes. Because I am a polite person, and didn’t want to climb over fellow theater goers in a mortified frenzy, I stayed til intermission. Thankfully, my sweet date agreed with me at that point and we fairly ran from the theater. shudder. The play was called, These Things I Know to be True. The only thing I now know to be true is that I will definitely read up on plays more before going. Lesson learned.

Going to a play you don’t know may not be brave. It may qualify more as being stupid or naive. I can accept those labels. I feel like I can find other ways I am brave. Here are a few ways I feel I was brave this week:

Letting a ‘mostly-stranger’ drive me to and through Phoenix

Walking though my neighborhood after dark. (big dogs, coyotes, bugs…)

Letting Gemma ‘brush’ my hair. (bald spots now)

Eating a full-on gluten filled cookie. (look out kids)

Putting a new item on TPT (someone buy it)

Letting my son’s ‘friend’ stay at my house for four days….(stranger danger)

These may not seem impressive to you. I get it. I live a pretty easy life with smallish challenges at times. That being said, today I did something that filled my little heart with fear and almost made me run away screaming.

I’ve had an issue with big spiders in my backyard around the pool. There are two things I’m a bit afraid of: spiders and water. Seeing these spiders is on thing. Seeing them RUN ACROSS THE WATER is another. What hellish demon trick is this? I called the bug man and he doused the yard again.

We went swimming today after I scouted the area and saw nothing with more than the maximum allowed leg count. Even thought I didn’t see anything, as I slowly went into the water, all I could imaging was spiders coming out to climb on me, waiting at the bottom, all of them knowing it was me that called the bug guy. I was the one responsible for the death of all their loved ones. (I hope) It took all my courage, and the fact that G was going down the slide, to get into the water. I was pretty terrified.

We swam without incident. Mostly. After about an hour, I noticed on solitary spider sitting on the wall watching us. I know he was watching. Waiting. Biding his time until he could softly tip,tip,tip,tip,tip,tip,tip,tip-toe over and climb on me. I’m sure he knows he needs no venom. Just his presence would cause my heart to stop. There’s not enough good about a spider to make up for all that bad.

We’re going to splash pad tomorrow.

Cause I said so.