The Persistent Spider
For me mornings definitely provide the better moments of the day. There is a peacefulness, even with the sounds of crows squawking, dogs barking and sprinklers chirping. My head is clear and I can actually think about things and try to troubleshoot what went wrong the day before.
Well this morning I went to turn on the sprinklers and there was that same spider who was there yesterday. I had to clear out the web, demolishing his home in order to get to the valve behind it and there he was again as if to say I’m not budging. What tenacity and persistence. These sound like wonderful traits but in this case, not so much.
If only the spider had moved his web just a few inches to the left he would be fine and yet he chose to spin his magic right in the same location as the day before.
Sometimes, even though things aren’t working I may get stuck in the same spot much like this spider. There is so much structure involved in navigating through a daily routine with your child who has autism that you sometimes get caught up in the procedure whether it’s working or not. Clearly the same choice made day after day will produce a similar result for better or worse. So in the case of the spider and for myself as well, should something not be working the key is flexibility. So why don’t I just try moving a little and maybe, just maybe the result will be different if not even a little bit better.
We will check back with the spider again too.
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What do you do if you find a spider near where you need to be?
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@grandmakitty@xanga – We are moving slowly and have realized that it may be more like a few feet to the right 🙂 Thank you for your thoughtful comment and the chuckle.
I apologize for having to ruin her hard work, and sweep the web away. I usually can’t bring myself to kill the spider, tho… i’ll try “relocating” her if i can.
As for being stuck in the same spot… yeah, sometimes we carve our ruts so deep we can’t see out over the top. Wasn’t it Einstein who gave the definition of insanity as ‘Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results’ ? Usually it takes someone else to sweep away our webs so we can see clearly. Change isn’t always easy, but sometimes “just a few inches to the left” would be all it takes….
I run from it because I’m terrified of them lol