Unwelcome Visitor

I have ants in my pants. Literally. Our attic-turned-closet, my closet, was invaded by unwelcomed visitors last week. I went to hang up my clothes at the end of the day and when I turned on the light, there were two giant clusters of large, black carpenter ants hanging from the spray foam insulation on the ceiling.

I ran to get my husband and when we returned five minutes later, the ants were gone except for one much smaller cluster. They disappeared back into their hide-away somewhere in the recesses of the attic.

Except for a few stragglers, you wouldn’t even know what potential destruction was jeopardizing the life of our house. The next few days were spent trying to figure out where they came from, how big is the colony, how long have they been there, have they spread to other parts of the house, and most importantly, formulating a treatment plan to get rid of them for good.

The ants aren’t the only unwelcomed visitor that showed up without warning last week. My husband was diagnosed with cancer.

The ant infiltration became, for me, a poignant visual of the unexpected arrival of something that potentially could cause great harm. Something that has been lurking undetected, then just shows up and demands your full attention. You can’t ignore it or wish it away. You have to face it and with the help of experts, devise a plan to get rid of it.

Until it’s gone, you can’t really rest, which makes it mentally and physically exhausting.

So, we begin the journey to healing and health. I didn’t know if I wanted to blog about this. It’s still very new, and it’s very personal, but I’ve always used my life’s experiences as the focus of my blogs and this should be no different. There is much power in sharing our stories, good and bad. True healing can happen when we share our stories. Healing for me and maybe for some of you.

I’ll keep you posted as this journey to exterminate the unwelcomed visitor progresses.

Oh, and I’ll let you know how the ant situation ends up. I don’t know much about how to get rid of them. But one thing I do know, it’s no picnic. (Haha)

Joan