moving boxes, memories, and the screams of a terrified child

"Madeline, wanna see this giant spider!?" (I ask my six year old sister this question while holding a covered jar with a spider in it on the way to the front door after catching her crawling around in our bathroom) 

"AHHHHHHHHHHH! AHHHHHHHHH!!" (shrieks of complete terror pierce the still of the entire house) 

Madeline frequently sits in the driveway picking up ants with her little bug catchers, thinking of these times, I assume she will be excited to see a captured spider. However, it takes me until after some cuddling with mom and soothing words to learn that bugs with 6 legs are alright, but 8 legs...forget about it.

This experience came in the midst of a new beginning. Our living room is filled with boxes and our house is being cleaned out...it's almost moving day. Seven years here, memories accumulate (as does junk...but that's another story). Thinking about the day we moved in, the day we brought baby Madeline home from the hospital, the day of my high school graduation, the day I moved out for college--the number of happy days and the number of sad days...I'd say they just about balance, when all is said and done. 

You could say that a house is just a house--wood, brick, paint. But a life is more than just years. I feel fine about the actual move; yet, with some of the other things going on simultaneously, I definitely think this is one of those moments where we grow and stretch ourselves. Everything will work out, it always does. Still, there are always things that weigh--worry, change, adjustment, distance, flooding memories...

Madeline's scream reminds me that at the end of the day, even when the road gets a little bumpy, the most terrifying and unmanageable thing--it might be a spider.