cecilia and i went to the pool to swim for a little bit (ian has this new thing where he has no interest in going to the pool so he stayed home with daddy). when we got back, justin was headed to the army base (fort huachuca) to play basketball, and i promised ian we could go for a walk in the wagon.....so we went on a wagon ride! (nothing really new there, although we hadn't been going on a ton of walks lately b/c the bugs are ridiculously annoying!) we took off for a walk around our apartment complex, and i had the heeby-jeebies {if you will} b/c i know that tarantula season is upon us and a friend of mine who lives at the complex said that they had seen a few already....SO i decided i'd rather not walk on the sidewalk between buildings in case a yucky over-sized spider surprised us. we took off on the sidewalk on the "main" road. we cruised for awhile, then i decided we should head home. as i crossed the gate in the parking lot, i saw a snake crossing over the curb-into the rocks {because there's not much grass here in arizona} (about 6 feet in front of me) and headed towards the sidewalk that leads to our apartment. under normal conditions-i would have my keys and would have just taken off in the car and waited for justin to get home and save the day. unfortunately, i didn't think we would be gone long so i left my keys at home {way to go, self!}. i called justin about a millionty times-knowing that he was playing basketball and couldn't answer-i had to try my luck anyway. our apartment office is closed on sunday, but they give an emergency maintenance phone number. guess what? the phone number didn't work. {super.} so, here i am-pulling my babies in the wagon and freaking out b/c i have no idea what to do!
{side note: i have encountered plenty of snakes in my day, but honestly-i have either been in a vehicle of some sort-golf cart, ranger, 4 wheeler-to keep me "safe" or with my dad or brothers (down at our creek where they have their guns handy)}
okay, so i can't get ahold of justin or the apartment office. what to do? what to do? in my mind, i'm imagining this snake (that looks like a rattlesnake) camping out at my front door just waiting for me and the kids {and then i have no quick gettaway b/c of the wagon and rocks}....to take a nice juicy bite out of my babies. so i called my dad (daddy's girl, perhaps?!) so he and mom could calm me down and give me some sort of insight on what to do......he suggested calling either the police department to see if someone patrolling could come out and at least check it out for my own sanity. SVPD said they would send someone out (i did not care that i sounded like an idiot and was over-reacting and i made sure i told him that!) in the mean-time, i refused to walk around the small sidewalks in case the snake's buddy was out there to surprise me. or his tarantula friend. that left me walking in circles in front of the apartment office and the drive-way. (which is near my apartment)....i kept my eye on our building, but never saw anything. i was incredibly jumpy and when a big beetle bee insect thing flew near me and i jumped so high -i almost lost it. i called my parents to let them know they cops were supposed to come help-at that point...{anxiety attack #1.} i calmed down and kept circling and waiting for the police. nothing.
by this point-i guess justin had a break in his game- and called to see what was up. i let him know and he headed home right away....it would take about 10-15 minutes for him to get there (and about 15 minutes had already passed since i called the SVPD). in the mean-time, we circled-i walked around our "roundabout" in the parking lot, up the sidewalk by the office, then around again. i called my parents so they could keep me distracted, then i SAW ANOTHER SNAKE. ugh!!!!!!! about 4 feet in front of me.....odds are, it was the same one, but now it was by the apartment office. again-in my mind, i was thinking that these snakes were ganging up to get my delicious babies. i freaked OUT completely. {anxiety attack #2}...i then went up to the main road and just waited while i talked to my parents. [i must add-my kids are INCREDIBLE!...this entire time, the only fuss they made was from ceci from this last freak out when i jerked the wagon away from the snake]...although, at this time-i made a point to make sure it didn't have a rattle. no rattle. one good piece of information.
i was standing by the road and talking to my parents when the police dude drove up (almost 40 minutes later). he looked irritated. i didn't care. i told him where i saw (from a distance at the road) i had seen the snake slither [i'm shivering as i type that.... in case you were wondering] last. he investigated and found him. he informed me that it was a bull snake and wasn't venomous. at the same time, justin pulled up. the cop guy caught the snake and put it in his little cage. then justin and the copper went near our apt building and didn't see anything (the cop didn't really ease my worries that there were 2 snakes b/c he basically just peaked over the gate to see if he could see it. at this point-i needed a FULL investigation with all cops present and every snake in the history of ever captured.) unforunately i'd have to settle for a safe path to our apartment and one snake out of the way.
justin didn't realize how traumatic this experience was for me and started to make a joke (which is normally what we do and how i handle things, however....) {insert anxiety attack #3}
moral of this story: i'm a pansy when there is ANY chance that my children could be in danger. i absolutely lost my cool, and i pride myself in having it "together" almost all the time. it took me quite sometime to calm down this evening. i have a feeling our walks will be minimal in the near future unless justin is around. (and i wouldn't be opposed to him taking his baton or gun along with him!) i dislike drama, but i was overly dramatic today and i could not control it! :/ ah well, what's done is done!
tonight i pray that i will get sleep and that this will not affect me for long! i will also be praying for all my beautiful school teacher friends that start tomorrow, along with another super special person to us who is starting a new adventure in their life AND that i'm super proud of!
anyways, happy monday everybody!!!!! xoxo
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