The Grasshopper
Today my friend Michelle came to visit me from California. She and I have known each other since September 5, 2001 when we entered the Missionary Training Center to learn Ukrainian together. Not only did we spend 24/7 with each other for nine weeks in the MTC, we were then able to serve as missionaries together in Ukraine for four months. We've shared some pretty unique experiences ranging from the hilarious to the sacred.
One of the hilarious ones happened on a beautiful summer day. We lived on the eighth floor of our building and had the windows open to get some air. We had just finished lunch and were getting ready to head back out when we saw a huge grasshopper on the bookshelf in our main living room. I am not exaggerating when I say that this grasshopper was close to a foot in length with legs and antenna to match. We both are squeamish when it comes to bugs but I especially have a hard time with ones that jump and could therefore possibly touch me. I do much better with spiders or other crawling bugs than those that fly or jump. Michelle is not any better. We talked for awhile about how to get rid of this grasshopper and decided getting it in a jar and throwing it out the window was the best option. The problem was that meant one of us had to get close enough to the creature to get it in the jar.
I cannot accurately describe what followed next but imagine a lot of screaming, jumping, running away, laughing, and then sobbing. I was hiding in the hallway cheering on as Michelle was taking steps towards the grasshopper with the jar in hand when she just started crying. It was the kind of crying that usually happens when you laugh really hard but this time it was fear and stress and maybe a little bit because we recognized how nonsensical we were acting. We knew that we could not leave our apartment only to return later that evening and not know where the grasshopper was hiding. It has to be dealt with then and there. Only we couldn't make ourselves do it.
As lame as we felt, we ended up calling the elders, or male missionaries, that lived close by and we just happened to catch them home for lunch as well. They graciously came over and had that grasshopper in the jar in less than 10 seconds. To their credit, they never made fun of us. A few days later they even made us cookies and an apology letter from the grasshopper saying he was sorry for all of the stress he had caused us. It was very noble of them to help us and even more so to be so nice and funny about it.
Even tonight when Michelle and I were reminiscing, the second I remembered this story I burst out laughing. It was silly but in the moment that grasshopper had us paralyzed with fear. That's one of the reasons I love Michelle too and why we have so much fun together; we can laugh about our own ridiculousness and the grasshopper incident is at the top of that list.
One of the hilarious ones happened on a beautiful summer day. We lived on the eighth floor of our building and had the windows open to get some air. We had just finished lunch and were getting ready to head back out when we saw a huge grasshopper on the bookshelf in our main living room. I am not exaggerating when I say that this grasshopper was close to a foot in length with legs and antenna to match. We both are squeamish when it comes to bugs but I especially have a hard time with ones that jump and could therefore possibly touch me. I do much better with spiders or other crawling bugs than those that fly or jump. Michelle is not any better. We talked for awhile about how to get rid of this grasshopper and decided getting it in a jar and throwing it out the window was the best option. The problem was that meant one of us had to get close enough to the creature to get it in the jar.
I cannot accurately describe what followed next but imagine a lot of screaming, jumping, running away, laughing, and then sobbing. I was hiding in the hallway cheering on as Michelle was taking steps towards the grasshopper with the jar in hand when she just started crying. It was the kind of crying that usually happens when you laugh really hard but this time it was fear and stress and maybe a little bit because we recognized how nonsensical we were acting. We knew that we could not leave our apartment only to return later that evening and not know where the grasshopper was hiding. It has to be dealt with then and there. Only we couldn't make ourselves do it.
As lame as we felt, we ended up calling the elders, or male missionaries, that lived close by and we just happened to catch them home for lunch as well. They graciously came over and had that grasshopper in the jar in less than 10 seconds. To their credit, they never made fun of us. A few days later they even made us cookies and an apology letter from the grasshopper saying he was sorry for all of the stress he had caused us. It was very noble of them to help us and even more so to be so nice and funny about it.
Even tonight when Michelle and I were reminiscing, the second I remembered this story I burst out laughing. It was silly but in the moment that grasshopper had us paralyzed with fear. That's one of the reasons I love Michelle too and why we have so much fun together; we can laugh about our own ridiculousness and the grasshopper incident is at the top of that list.
Comments
Post a Comment