A daddy long legs has lived in the little bathroom for over a
week. I first saw him on the wall, near the corner – stretching his graceful
legs.
Many times every day I have gone in there and – before washing
my hands or sitting down or putting in or removing my contacts – I have looked
to see where he is. I heard myself saying “hello” or “what’re you doing”; once
I asked him where he’d gone (hidden in a different corner underneath
something).
Then, as a big fat surprise this morning as I sat with incense
and candle burning during my ritual early morning free-write journaling, there
he was next to me!
Apparently, he needed a change of scenery.
I thought it might be nice for him to visit the natural world
and considered offering him a free flight via Tissue Airlines, if I could find
a dry shelter under the eaves.
But as I contemplated this, as if he could hear my thoughts and
found them disagreeable, he vanished. Even the too-bright reading light - which
I turned on and aimed in his direction – was not illuminating enough to reveal
his secret whereabouts.
I said a word to him, promising I wouldn’t let him out:
this, an apparently distressing idea.
Then I continued journaling on the topic I’d been writing about
before DLL had appeared at my side – about my estranged-now-deceased father who
I’ve always, inexplicably, called “Daddy.”
I found it odd a few hours later when the
formerly-bathroom-limited daddy long legs had ventured even farther afield – to
the opposite side of the cottage’s main room.
* * *
I find all of this
kind of odd, actually.
Disconcerting. Sad.
the creature. the father. the death. the house-wide travel.
the sudden appearances, disappearances, and reappearances.
how time and space conspire to transmute
genetics.emotions.nature.
Yet here I am ... with all this co-incidence and complexity,
unanswerable questions and incongruity, grief and relief … just noticing.
All blog images created & photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2016 JenniferJWilhoit/TEALarbor stories. AllRightsReserved."
