Ants

I hate bugs!  I don't just find them annoying or a little gross.  I'm the kind of girl who will see a bug when I'm home alone and with half closed eyes, stick a paper cup over it until my husband, brother, or dad arrive to flush it down the toilet.   I will then rush to the bathroom to wash my hands with soap and water even though I don't actually touch the bug.  Are you getting the picture?  Well, this picture should set a pretty good scene for my nightmare experience the other day... 

Mike and I are moving into our town house this week, so I was busy cleaning out our bedroom at my parent's house.  I was home alone (of course this would happen when I was alone!). I pulled out my drawer that housed my candy collection and as I was going through it, I popped a piece in my mouth.  All of a sudden, a million tiny moving brown specks caught my eye.  My candy drawer was covered with baby ants.  As you would expect, I panicked.  I had no idea what to do (aside from spitting out the piece of candy in my mouth). I knew that I needed to get the drawer outside. However, as I didn't want to touch anything with my hands, I grabbed a trash bag, picked up the drawer and ran it down to the front porch. When I ran back upstairs, I discovered that not only were the little guys in the candy drawer, but also in the other drawers, as well as on the floor around the dresser.  I continued running up and down the stairs, using paper towels and bags to carry all of the infected articles to the front porch.  My neighbors were having a party that day and I can only imagine what they must have been thinking.  Next I grabbed the vacuum and began vacuuming them up.  Even when I didn't see any more ants, I kept the vacuum running because I was afraid that they could crawl back out.  Things seemed to calm down at this point and I began to recover from my ordeal. 

Later that day, my sister Nicole came to pick up Jack (my mom and I were babysitting), and I was helping her put the car seat in her car.  All of a sudden, I noticed that the car seat was covered in black ants.  Yes, this is a true story.  This did happen to me twice in one day.  I wonder if the Lord is after something?  I was no less grossed out, but a little more prepared this second time around.  I dragged the car seat to the porch and turned on the vacuum.  Those little guys didn't stand a chance! 

Needless to say, for the rest of the evening, I constantly felt like I had an ant crawling on me.  I finally made it to bed, and had dreams about ants all night long.  It was a day that I wasn't sorry to see come to an end, and it's a day I hope not to repeat in the near future.

I know that Proverbs tells us to observe the ant to learn about diligence.  This command has been a difficult one for me to obey.  I would prefer to read about these little guys in my Bible or watch a special about them on TV, but I can pass on the living demonstrations in my own home.