Loving large, fearing little

When I visited a friend in Beacon who had recently purchased a lovely shingled house on a woodsy plot of land, she mentioned her fear of some of the animals that crossed her property: bears, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, and the like. When I expressed enthusiasm for these species, particularly raccoons, she was surprised. 

She may have ascribed my lack of fear to some form of courage. But I know the truth: I may not be afraid of mammal-size creatures, but I am absolutely terrified of smaller beings—lice, ticks, pinworm, bedbugs, mosquitoes, germs. 

Yes, it’s the little things in life.


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