Fighting through the fear ... the snake story.

I wrote recently about having to unexpectedly stand up in front of a room full of people that I didn't know and say a few words. That is a very real fear. I have heard that it's actually the #1 fear that people have—I am sure you have heard that too. But I think I had an experience a few days later that makes that look like Donald Trump in a dress ... you know, funny.

The Saturday after my awkward Christian Chamber Meeting speech, I decided it was a perfect day to do some yard work. I have a very gracious aunt and uncle who bought me four very beautiful knock-out roses for my yard on Thursday evening, and I needed to get them in the ground. So Saturday morning I set out to plant. It went great, they looked great, and I set about doing a few other yard chores that caught my eye.

I decided I needed to cut a dead limb off of a tree in my front yard. I finally decided that "yep, it's really dead" so I walked around to the back of my house with a plan to reach underneath the house to grab a saw. There were a bunch of leaves gathered at the crawl space door, so I grabbed a rake and raked them away from the door for easy access. I hadn't gone under the house for anything in "a-while" so I cautiously opened the door and approached the opening. There are always plenty of spiders, and I kind of get the heeeby-jeeebies going under there anyway, so I took my time to make sure one wasn't going to drop down on me as I went in.

I sprayed some Home Defense around the area to kill the spiders, knelt down at the door, and had a look around. It's kind of a small space, so I couldn't see much. I crept forward and put my knee up on the board that runs across the ground that the door closes up against. I peeked my head in a little further and had another look. I scanned the area for my reciprocating saw—it wasn't there. But I did see a red bow saw that I had stored under there and out of the corner of my eye, to the left, I saw a round object. "What is that? It could be a snake. No, surely it's not a snake. I have heard of snakes getting under houses before but I have never seen it actually happen. Maybe I'll go get my camera and take a flash photo, light it up and make sure. If it's a snake, it could be a Copperhead."

I got up and went inside the house to get my camera. I took it outside and stuck my hand inside the crawl space door a bit, pointed the camera to the left and took the shot. I looked at it on the camera but I couldn't see it well enough out in the sunlight. I went into the house again so I could see, but it was still a small photo (and my hands were more than a little shaky), and I wanted to be sure. I quickly uploaded the photo to my computer where I could get a better look. "Yep, it is a snake, and it is a Copperhead! Wait a minute, what's that behind him?!? Oh man, there's another one. Wait! Do I see two heads in the background??" I zoomed the image in closer. "Oh God! There are three of them!! There are three Copperheads underneath my house!!! What do I do? What am I going to do??" That is when the panic started.


The first shot helped me identify what I was dealing with.

I don't typically get riled up easily, but this was way too much for my brain to process!! That's when I got a serious case of the "what ifs" running around my head. "What if I try to remove them myself? What if I get one, but the others hide and I can't find them? What if they go further underneath and I can't see them anymore? What if no one is available to come out and get them OUT??"

Not knowing what to do, I did what anyone who is a socialmedialite would do—I uploaded the picture to Facebook and asked my Friends, "What do I do now??" Then I realized how silly that was ... and I grabbed the phone book! A real person answered the second number I called and the conversation went something like this:

"A1 Wild Life Control." (With a name like that how could I go wrong??)
"Hi how are you?"
"I'm good, how are you."
"I'm alright. Are you working today?" (This is apparently my best attempt at being casual in a stressful situation—WHAT??)
"Yep, I'm working."
"Well I have this problem."
"Oh-K."
"I have three Copperheads underneath my house and I need to get them out."
(Pause)
"Three Copperheads you say ... are you sure that they're Copperheads?"
"Yes, I'm positive. I have a photo of them."
"Ok, I was on my way somewhere else, but I am going to come to your place first."
"I would appreciate that very much."

The guy showed up with a friend about 30 minutes later and, to make a long-enough story shorter, they removed the snakes with some kind of sticky "Catch Master" paper, put them in a bucket and took them away. You can check out all of the photos here.

I have to be honest, it has taken me all week to really "come down" from the weirdness of the whole event. I am not generally afraid of snakes in their own habitat, but there is something about them being in my space that freaked me out. I have been able to laugh about some aspects of it, but though the imminent danger is gone, my brain still wants to play the "what if" game. I get in bed at night and I think about it. I step outside the house, and I think about it—every single day since.

I don't know about you, but being afraid of things makes me angry—not the "I have a healthy respect for" kind of fear, but the kind that wants to take over. I refuse to live in fear. After all, God says over and over in his word, "Do not fear, I am with you." But I admit sometimes events occur and I need time to process through them. I pray every night that I won't have "snakes chasing me" in my dreams. God has been gracious and I have had sweet dreams. I am thankful for that, and I am thankful that none of us were bitten.

Now to get back out there and finish "snake proofing" my crawl space.

*shudder*