Two Cockatoos

When I first met DH, he was terrified of spiders. If there was a huntsman spider in the house, I was the one to get the container to take it outside. Both of us were happy to have them around, and neither of us wanted to kill them, but we preferred it if they were not patrolling the inside of the house.

I don’t know what happened. Now they freak me out. I still admire them, I respect them, but I can’t be near them - at least, not the big ones.

The other night, the kids noticed a huntsman crawling around behind a curtain in the bedroom. It looked moderately-sized - not huge, but certainly not small. For perspective, that’s her in the photos - the cardboard in the second photo is about A4 size, and the short side is at the top of the photo. DS2 was very anxious and had trouble going back to sleep. He eventually succeeded by pulling the covers completely over his head.

Last night, after they were asleep, DH noticed the spider on the wall right above DS2’s head. She was in an awkward spot for catching, and even if she hadn’t moved below the mattress level, it would have been difficult. I was picturing the horror of DS waking up after being disturbed by DH missing the spider and ending up with her on the bed. Needless to say, after she moved, we had to resign ourselves to leaving her alone.

Today, I was doing some washing. I went to the bathroom to pick up the laundry that had been dumped on the floor, and almost put my hand on the spider. She stayed put long enough for DH to rescue her (and me) and he delivered her to the garden.

What I want to know is - how did DH and I switch places? I used to be the brave one…