Sometimes things die.

We don't have pets.  We love animals, but as a family we have never lived anywhere that would support the idea of a pet.  The apartment was too small.  The parsonage was too near a busy street, and the house where we now live is too temporary--to say nothing of the bobcat who lives on the property!  But even though we did not invite this living, breathing creature into our family, still she came.  We didn't notice her at first.  We thought she was just another creepy-crawly member of the country.  But then one day, there she was.  In the middle of her intricately spun, bug-catching web was Charlotte.  Also known as arigope aurantia.

We admired her day and night.  We found that we could see the magnificent web through our kitchen window.  She was a study in God's care for the least of creatures, as well as His attention to color and detail.  But she wasn't a part of the family until the day we started feeding her.  We began ending our evening walks with family grasshopper-catching races.  We squealed with delight as she wrapped her prey at lightning speeds.  We watched the movie, and prepared ourselves for the time that she would lay her eggs, and when she did, we had the bittersweet talk about what would happen next.  And then one day it did.

We found her beautiful intricate body where it had fallen under her web, and made a bed for her out of a scooby doo band-aid box.  We dug a hole and placed it inside, each of us adding a bit of dirt to her grave.  We talked about the fact that her body would turn to dirt that would soon be helping flowers grow.  We talked about the fact that her job was done.  She had left new spiders in place to catch next year's bugs.  And most especially we talked about what we loved the most about Charlotte.

Ethan liked to give her bugs to eat.

Emma liked the way the raindrops sparkled on her web after it rained.