Crucible of Interruption

When I moved to Texas four years ago I fully expected having to acclimate myself to things that I wasn't quite accustomed to in Missouri. Pre-move I thought this might mean warmer winters, no seasons, no snow, lots of humidity, etc. Change in climate I could handle, no biggie. Change in insects however, I hadn't considered. I have a HUGE roach problem. Now I don't mean a problem with huge roaches. I mean a huge problem with ALL roaches. Until moving here I had never encountered roaches that cast there own shadows. It's stinking ridiculous. I'm getting the heebie geebies just thinking about it. uuuuck! And it doesn't matter how they come...big, small, wings, no wings, alive, dead...I don't want anything to do with them. This poses a big problem in the place I now call home. My incredible former roommate Sarah, a native Houstonian, was a blessing from God above because she grew up slaying roaches. I'll never forget the first time I encountered an enormous roach in our condo. It scurried across the kitchen floor. I saw it, screamed and did what I might now call the roach dance...which is a little bit like a hop, scurry and squeal in panic. Sarah thought for sure I had discovered some dead animal in the kitchen, like a cat or something. She laughed pretty hard when she discovered it was just a roach. And that was the beginning of her being my roach protector and slayer. I think the only time I killed a roach on my own was when I woke up to find one on my bathroom floor at 3 in the morning and I didn't have the heart to wake her up, or even to scream. I was tempted to just leave it be until I started thinking about where it could end up while I was asleep. With that thought I was able to muster up the killing courage...no problem.

Sara and I spent two awesome years together as roomies, with lots of roach killing and other great memories. She then went to Brazil where she has been the past four months. One of the last conversations we had before she left was in regard to Julie, my roomie to be. Sarah said, "watch her hate roaches more than you do...". I remember thinking "hate roaches more than me?...as if that's even possible" and then quickly praying "please God let her not hate roaches". So.... on one of the first few days after Julie moved in I was standing in the kitchen when I heard this blood curdling scream from the other room. I mean seriously, I thought something really awful had happened. I flew down the hall, asking Julie if she's ok, only to discover what I had most been dreading....a roach in the bathroom and Jules in a panic. I then did the only thing that could really be done. I bucked up, acted like the gross little thing didn't bother me a bit and I squashed the sucka! I even cleaned it up, which is actually worse to me cause then you gotta get close to it...ew. But after it was all over I said aloud, "I feel like I just became an adult." And it was in that moment that I was so thankful for Sarah, who was sort of like my roach mentor. Who by her courage and squashing ability taught me to stand up with courage on behalf of others in fear of roaches. Ha. It really was a big moment for me.

So the other day in an email I get the following pictures from Sarah in Brazil. How nice of her to take these and think of me. So thoughtful! Apparently the roaches here aren't anything compared to the ones they have in Brazil. Oh and she also mentioned a spider as big as her hand that she didn't get pictures of because she was too busy getting the heck out of there. No worries..I can do without pics of that. So, the hats and the boots and the hair might be bigger here, but thank God the "bigger" roaches are someplace else.

View at your own risk...