shelter.

It was a delightfully overcast day. Thick clouds threatened rain all morning, before they finally broke. Huge drops of rain pounded the ground and our windows. The smell of rain wafted in through our ac unit.

I opened the front door, so the children could watch from behind the screen door as the world was soaked.

They knelt before it, in awe of the speed and size of the falling rain. As they knelt, C noticed a daddy-long-leg sneak in through a crack at the bottom of the screen door. He was quick to inform me of our guest, declaring that it had “come in to find shelter!” Being an expert bug catcher, he swiftly grabbed it by the legs and brought it further inside.

“What should we do with it?” I asked. I don't appreciate bugs in my house, but I had taken pity on the shelter-seeking creeper, and didn't feel comfortable sending it to the same fate as other insects that made their way into our home.

“I don't know,” C responded to my question. “But daddy-long-legs are an important part of our ecosystem.” He informed me, no doubt aware of the possibility of demise.

“I feel bad for it,” I said. “It was only looking for shelter. But it chose the wrong place, and cannot stay here. I think we should throw it outside, and maybe it'll find someplace else to take shelter.”

So, my bug-toting 7-year old walked to the door, I cracked it open, and he tossed our new friend back out into the soggy wilderness that is our front yard.