Monday, July 14, 2025

Spider Bites and Relative History

I have always been terrified of spiders. I was teased mercilessly as a child by relatives. I couldn't even look at a drawing of a spider. Grandpa Red and Grandma Pauline had a cast-iron spider on their fireplace screen and the game was to make me touch it. It was awful. I would cry. They also had a butter dish that sat out on the table and I remember flies landing on the butter. I have never liked butter either.

Grandpa Red was bald when I was a child. I only later realized his nickname was Red because he was a red-head as a boy. I always thought it was because he had red skin. He kept M&M's in a glass jar above the cupboards and would give them to me and my sister. We were age 4 and 6.

My husband the detective did some genealogical research. Grandpa Red was put in an orphanage as a child because his father fell to his death glazing windows at a church. His mother couldn't afford to take care of the children so Grandpa Red was sent to an orphanage as a child. This is the meat and juice of the Lisker family traumas. Our father, Grandpa Red's son, ran away from all of his wives and children. His marriages never lasted longer than 10 years. Finally he met a woman with two adult children and they stayed married. She too had been married twice before. This means I have a step-sibling that I've never met.

Last week I got bit by a spider on my elbow. It happens. I am still treating my allergic reaction; swelling and itching blisters. 

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