Creepy Crawlies: A Mother's Love

We seem to have an obsession with the strange, the ugly, or the creepy.

I'm sure there are thousands of psychiatrists who have explained why. I remember reading a book in college that examined the contrast of beauty and ugliness in art. Why do we pick up a horror story, or watch a scary movie? Human beings often have this desire to be scared. We jump on scary roller coasters every summer or run through haunted houses every fall. Some of us do extreme winter sports and often wonder if going down that double diamond slope was a bad idea.

And on top of being daring or scared or haunted, one more thing I've noticed is that when we see creepy crawlies, often our first reaction is to make sure the thing is far enough away from us that it won't touch us. Our second reaction is to pull out our cameras.

That was exactly what happened to me when I was working in the garden one sunny spring day and saw something dark gray moving quickly through the shadows beneath the grass. So of course, I whipped out my cell phone.

The first shot wasn't too impressive, which is part of the reason why that's the one I used for the headline image, (I know, some people just don't like eight-legged creatures.) The critter was in the shadows, the grass was bright and sunny. To look at it at first, it was hard to tell what the picture was even of. But if you zoom in, you start to get a little hint of what's going on.

And by getting a hint of what's going on, I'm pretty sure it's a spider... but there's something weird about it, and no, it's not those slightly glowing eyes. So I moved some grass around, waited for the critter to find a better position, pose for the camera and... voila!

I got a much better shot. It was at least something I could work with. So I took the shot and ran with it. The first step: Zoom in a little closer, adjust the brightness, and let's see what's going on with this thing.

My brain started spinning. What it looked like to me was a momma spider with a bunch of eggs on her back, crawling around like a creepy 8-legged koala bear. Except a koala with a baby hanging on it's back is really cute and cuddly, and this momma... well, I wouldn't call her cute and cuddly.

But, really? Are we actually close enough to truly appreciate this creation of nature? I zoomed in a little closer to get a better look at that momma spider face and here's what I got.

Now that belongs on a mother's day card. Look at the strength, determination, look at that expression of, "If you touch my babies I will bite you!" In my opinion, that's the true picture of love and determination. It's true dedication to her babies and their well-being. Maybe we think it's a little creepy, but is that really fair? She's creating life for a whole new generation of creepy crawlies that will control our bug population and carry babies on their own backs.

In my opinion, it's something to admire.

The world is a dangerous place, and certainly more so if you have eight legs. It's not exactly fair, but it's kind of true. When it comes to that beauty and ugliness thing we were talking about before, sometimes the ugly is not as easily appreciated.

But... maybe you shouldn't send it to your mother on the front of a card on the second Sunday of May. That might be taking things a little too far.