a lesson from idaho {that would make my mom ashamed}

After my husband decided that it was okay for his family to know we were dating {and see us hold hands, even}, we began spending a lot of time at his house {because any excuse to get out of Rexburg, ID is a good one}.

Most of the time we just did a lot of homework.

One day, while in the basement, I went to plug in my laptop behind their couch.
Tyrel looked up and said, "Don't plug it in back there. That's where I just killed a hobo."

He then casually turned back to his homework.

Waaaaait.

Whaaat?

You killed a homeless man!?!?!

And you are not even concerned about it?

{Now, I didn't really think my husband had killed someone, but play along with me.}

A few weeks later, we were talking about the change in weather, and he said, nonchalantly, "I guess it will be time soon to put out the hobo traps."

What is it with you Idahoans and these poor people?

What did they ever do to you?

And what is a hobo trap?

A cage with a Big Mac dangling from a string?

"Why do you have to set out a trap?"

{Still honestly confused}

"Because they will chase you. And if they bite you, you could die."

Man. I wouldn't want to live in the city.

"Do you want to see one?"

Well, shoot.

I guess.

We go back downstairs, and Tyrel pulls out a piece of white paper.

And I see something like this:

 Eww.

Apparently, a hobo isn't a man named Hank, but rather a disgusting spider.

Google them.

They are nasty.

And huge.
And, yes. They do chase you.

From experience.

 

I wasn't ever scared of bugs.

In fact, I grew up with a freezer full of them {that sounds gross?}, thanks to my Mom's degree.

I remember going fossil hunting as a family {and, yes, my family is much cooler than yours} and my mom sending us running for our lives after another crazy insect, Bell jar in one hand and the lid covered with a paper towel in the other.

We caught the coolest bugs.
And then my mom would freeze them {or send them to a different agonizing death via alcohol-drenched-cotton-ball in the jar}. 

After they had bid their fond adieus, she would carefully press the wings flat and pin them in our bug collection.

We would get out the insect guides and figure out exactly what we had caught.
Eventually, our collection looked something like this:

...except bigger.

With more bugs.

{The best part about this collection, by the way, is that while all of my friends had to catch bugs for their High School Biology bug collections, I relaxed and just took our collection with me the day the project was due. with me to school. A+? Yeah. Definitely.}

Thus, bugs never scared me.

But now.
Oh gee.

I jump every time I think I see something dark across the carpet.

And I'm scared that now I might be a little scared of bugs.

Sorry, Mom. 

Idaho corrupted me.

taking a breather

I am not a very patient person, and I am not always the most loving person. I can get a fiery temper and let myself get caught up in emotions...like today. Let's just say that I am tired of renting and cannot wait until we can just buy our own home. No apartment managers avoiding their responsibilities, no more loud neighbors screaming at the top of their lungs and practically breaking doors almost every day of the week (sometimes at 2 in the morning...in the room directly below your future baby's nursery), no more 24-hour chain-smokers just 5 feet outside your drafty front door...

You get the idea.

Well, today I just couldn't take it anymore and lost my cool (luckily just in front of my saint of a husband and my amazing dad {via the phone}), both of whom told me that I just needed to calm down a little. I really felt hate for people I hardly even know but didn't care one bit about it. It felt nastily good to be so mad at someone else and to over-magnify all of their flaws...

...until I stumbled upon this quote:

"We need to be kinder with one another, more gentle and forgiving. We need to be slower to anger and more prompt to help. We need to extend the hand of friendship and resist the hand of retribution. In short, we need to love one another with the pure love of Christ, with genuine charity and compassion and, if necessary, shared suffering, for that is the way God loves us." {Howard W. Hunter}

Ouch. That one kind of burned a little. Taking a step back, was reminded that if Someone could love me so unconditionally, even with how {obviously} flawed I am, especially in that moment, I needed to readjust a little. A little more humbled, a little embarrassed...ready to start over :)