Along Came A Spider

It's getting to be fall.  I can always tell because the spiders start coming out and taking up residence along the eaves.  I usually start seeing them in the last few weeks of August and it's a sure sign that autumn is beginning its descent.  I'm not really much of a spider person.  Especially not in the house, but I tolerate them for a bit while they're spinning their silk across my summer leaves.  I try to put my squeamishness aside and help my children see the science and the beauty in the creature.  This particular one set its anchor line and web in the plants just outside our front door.  We'd been watching it for a few days.  It caught a moth, and a few other little snack bugs, but, really, it was just another critter creeping around our entry way.  It didn't wow me.  And then it rained.  The raindrops landed like diamonds on those thins wisps of silk.  The web sparkled and the spider in the center was magnificent.  True beauty is always in front of us.  Sometimes it's right out there, ready to be seen and celebrated.  And sometimes is hidden in plain sight, just waiting for someone to open up their mind enough to see it.