On the last night of our holiday I cried myself to sleep.
Not because I was so sad to be leaving – although that was true. It was because one of my fears became too much of a reality.
You see, we were having so much fun that we extended our holiday by one night. But this meant that we all had to share one of the cottages. Practically this meant that we had the room at the back, off another room that wasn’t lit by the light that we were leaving on in the kitchen. Knox in his cot, the girls sleeping top to toe on a single mattress on the floor and then Seth and I on a double bed sized futon propped up on the floor.
Being able to spend the extra night there was totally worth it, even for the slightly cramped sleeping space.
Anyway, back to the story.
We’d put the kids to sleep and been sitting outside chatting around the fire, but it was time for bed. We couldn’t put the light on because we didn’t want to wake the kids, but we were using Seths phone as a torch. Dressed for bed and about to get into bed I heard a noise in the light…
“Oh my word! What was that?!” (For the sake of clarity I’ll put myself in italics because this might convey the hysteria )
“It’s probably nothing man.”
“Just check it, please check it, go check it!!!”
“It’s just a little spider”
*insides fall to my feet but heart rises to my throat*
“As long as it’s there it won’t do anything to you”
*switch off light*
*hear very obvious movement on the lampshade*
*freaks the heck out*
“Seth put on the LIGHT!!!”
“Ag man, it’s nothing”
“If that was a gecko you’d put on the light!”
“If that was a gecko I’d already be sleeping in the car”
“Just do it”
*massive spider of death is now sitting on the outside of the lightshade*
“Get it! Get it! Get it!”
*only slightly hysterical*
*Seth tries to get it when it proceeds to jump onto the FLOOR and then RUN under MY BED*
Yes let’s recap that. It is now under my bed. That I’m supposed to sleep in for the night.
I wrapped myself in the blanket so that there were absolutely NO holes at all – no little spot for it to sneak in, but I spent the next hour crying like a baby while everyone else around me slept peacefully. Absolutely rational and logical right?
Yeah, I know. Seth deserves a medal. I’m totally the easiest person to love and live with.
On a lighter less crazy note, here’s the rest of the pictures of our amazing holiday!
16 comments
I marvel everytime I see your kids. They are so beautiful! Sorry you had a scary night. Hope you eventually slept.
Beautiful photographs. We once owned a house near Kirstenbosch that seemed to have a never ending supply of spiders. We eventually sold the house because I had reached the point where I was constantly expecting spiders to fall onto me (which they did, during the night). I could tell you more but suffice to say that, despite my occasionally missing the beauty of the location, I never miss the house.
I *totally* understand your hysteria. We’re planning a trip to Mozambique in March with Daniel’s dad and girlfriend and while I’m excited, the thought of foreign and being scary spiders/bugs/moth FREAKS me out. Like really really. Daniel assures me that there’ll be much bug spray and constant room checks. Meh.
*big not ‘being’
I totally get it. I’d have been hysterical too!
Gorgeous pics! Your kids are so cute. 🙂
I am sort of ok with spiders and geckos – now if it was a snake – different story!
Stunning pictures and special memories! I agree with Cat – spiders and geckos I can handle… but snakes?/ NEVER!!!
I would have slept somewhere else or I would have risked waking the kids and searched for it.
It looks like a beautiful place.
I feel guilty, but I just laughed hysterically, I’m sorry!! Brilliantly written <3
Your pics are lovely so happy. Oddly I was insanely arachnophobic and then it just went away, probably round about when I was being stalked by my psycho ex and had more life threatening matters to deal with. Now I’m happy to see spiders around as I feel they eat mozzies and flies, which I loathe
So sorry that happened 🙁
Beautiful pic’s!! Should get them framed friend! xx
Some lovely pictures! looks like you had a lovely time!
Don’t worry about the spider, I once woke up at 1am desperately needing the toilet to see one sat under the bedroom door, it saw me. Neither of us would make the first move. At around 8am someone walked to the loo and it scuttled off under my bed. I cried a lot that night and refused to sleep in my bedroom for 2 days. I cannot sleep with them in the room, daddy long legs, spiders, moths… nope! You’re not alone! 🙂
What a beautiful family and looks like you had a special holiday xxx
Great pics. Your spider story had me laughing, not because of the spider, but because of your gecko comment, LOL. The “get it get it get it” made me think of that scene in the Madagascar movie with the Lion and the Spider 😉
Oh my gosh I would have died. I do a perimeter check every night before getting into bed. Completely paranoid about spiders. This also reminded me of our first night on honeymoon. A soon as we put off the light the bat came out of hiding. YES WE HAD A BAT IN THE ROOM. So there I was sitting under the covers (sweating in 40degrees) googling bats and rabies while the husband kept saying “forget about the bat, just sleep” The bat then came swooping down cm’s above me and I completely lost my sh***.. We moved our mattress downstairs to the TV room and thats where we stayed.