Along Came a Spider...

I saw a photo of a spider and web today on one of the blogs I check frequently.  It reminded me of something that happened years ago... before my sweet husband became my sweet husband and long before he had any inkling of my many quirks and interests.  I had been visiting my great Uncle in Texas and had asked Bill (my husband) if he'd mind stopping by to water my fickle impatiens and making sure the cat hadn't run out of necessities. 

When I got home about a week later I was greeted at the door by my cat, who seemed happy to have her long-term companion appear on her radar and I must say that the impatiens were huge, lovely and showing  absolutely no signs of stress.  It was a banner trip until I reached around to turn on the water... my spider and her web were gone.  Absolutely no sign that they ever existed. 

I called Bill to thank him for checking on things while I was away and complemented him on his abilities to keep things in tip-top condition.  After a bit of small talk, I then asked, "Did you happen to see a spider's web out back near the water faucet?"  To which he responded, "I sure did!  I killed that thing!  It was HUGE!"  I said, "Oh, okay".  Then there was silence... for no more than a couple seconds... and he said, "Uh oh, did you mean for that to stay there?"  Honestly, I had spent a couple weeks reaching through a hole in the web of the huge garden spider and carefully leaning just far enough to turn on the water.  Doing so meant that the spider was usually only a couple inches from my face; but I had taken great pains to not disturb the spider or her environment.  I'll admit, I had to laugh though at the mental image of him reaching over to turn on the water as the giant spider would come into focus merely inches from his face!  Bless his heart... the things I have put that sweet man through!  He must really, really love me!

Of course, all was forgiven.  After all, I didn't give him fair warning.