The ONLY thing ...

I've lived in Arizona my whole life and I can honestly say that I think it's the greatest place on earth ... or at least in the country ... or at least in the West. I truly love it. There is, however, one thing that comes with this territory that has given me more than one story to write about.

First of all, I am going to get a tad bit personal. I was in the bathroom this evening, doing what everybody in the world does - but we don't talk about it. So I was just sitting there minding my own business. La la la, still minding my own business, la la la. Sometimes, when it seems that I'm going to be "minding my own business" for awhile, I enjoy multi-tasking. So I have this handy dandy Sudoku book that I use to exercise my brain and pass the time with that just sits on the floor by my feet next to my handy dandy toilet. Tonight was one of those times, la la la, minding my own business, working some Sudoku. You get the picture, I've been sitting there "minding my own business" now for a few minutes. THEN I SAW IT.
Yep. Nothing says Arizona like a scorpion. For those of you not from these parts, the smaller the scorpion, the more potent their poison; i.e. pain. This scorpion was smaller than my pinky nail! It was a baby. Do you understand how bad this thing could hurt!

Now remember, I'm in a bit of a predicament. The first rule of scorpions is that you NEVER let it out of your sight. If you take your eye off of it, you lose it. Now you might be wondering why I just didn't step on it. Well I don't ever wear shoes unless I'm going to church! So here I am, "minding my own business", no shoes on, and for the most part ... no pants either! I've been stung enough times to have a very healthy fear of these satanic pieces of evil, and I've also got a healthy set of lungs. So I start screaming for Gary, who by now knows my scorpion scream immediately. Well apparently, so do my kids. Gary is outside, Garrison however knows that there is a scorpion to be conquered. He comes running around the corner in the first pair of shoes he could grab ... Gary's size 11 sandals.



Without giving my situation a second thought he ran right to where my eyes were gazing and stepped, stomped, twirled and twisted the poison right out of that sucker. Garrison was my hero and he knew it. He kept Daddy's big shoes on for protection and in case of any further need as he walked confidently into the sunset.

So that's it, the ONLY thing I hate about Arizona. My Mom told me one time that she prayed to see the scorpions before they saw her and I've carried that tradition on and passed it to my kids. We do pray for this, and more often than not, it's a happy ending. Is it worth living in Arizona for? Ya.