It all started with a mouse in the house.
(Kind of like a
shoe on the wall…shouldn’t be there at all)
Following that mouse was a second, and a third and a
fourth.
(He said mousetraps
were disposable until we ran out…then they became reusable in a hurry)
And then a slightly larger fifth.
(Babies are
expendable to take first venture out, but Mama finally got hungry)
It was downright ridiculous by the third morning. My kids had squealed and “eww”ed and “cool”ed
their way through snapped noses, crushed bodies, bits of blood and fur and the
ever present horrid hanging tails. The
dog had even discovered the threat of peanut-butter-bread on a set trap.
I had multiple times run from the kitchen, shuddered in
great disgust and crept up on the pantry door and under the china cabinet with
trembling hands and flashlight at the ready.
I had been teased and taunted by the rest, the fake white-rubber life-size mouse placed carefully around my things in the kitchen, just waiting
for my sharp intake of breath and frozen-yet flight-ready body.
(It’s not funny!…yes
it is teehee!...went the round and round argument)
I was more than tired of the indoor rodent invasion.
It seems to be over, although I’m still cautiously
checking. I keep my feet curled up in
the chair when I sit at the kitchen table.
I start at the wind making the blinds rattle near the china
cabinet. I curse the floor tiles being
gray when the night shadows come. I
debated tossing the white rubber mouse into the trashcan with the rest of the
baggie-sealed mouse corpses.
I love to blog, and it’s been awhile. I’ve been busy. With work.
With life.
And with getting
rid of the vermin.
2012 was going to be “the year”. I had a whole list of things I was going to
do. Books to read, projects to start
(and finish). A banner year, I
said. And then everything seemed to fall
apart right at the start and I wondered why I had bothered getting so pumped up
about another wasted year. But on
reflection, it has been a great year, just not how I had it all planned back in
January.
There have been lots of unexpected changes this
year. But the best part has been the
toughest part. Looking into the dark
places, shining in with a flashlight, seeing all of the creepy crawly unspeakable
things…and reaching in to gather them up one by one and dump them in the
garbage heap.
It’s a process.
Its taken time, tears and talking.
I’m working on me, and it’s been a good thing.
Way past time to boot the mouse out of the house.
