By now I’m sure you are all aware- bugs are very much a part of living in Julia’s house.
This morning a spider was crawling on my face and bit my lip. Jetting up from mid dream I slapped my face, squishing the (fortunately) little baby spider into my chin. Now that’s awake. What was this spider doing on my face? Starting a turf war? Maybe the spider was sick of my presence. I’m sure his/her ancestors were here first, oh well.
Living with Julia is like living with history. Long conversations I’ve had in my heart with God always seem to find their way out into Julia’s house, thoughts roam freely here. Dinners past have been filled with stories- of parachute drops on the grassy airstrip of Raoul Island (located in the Kermadecs), elderly Pacific Islanders waiting on the rims of the reef for the tide to come in, Coops taking over time and space in the matter of a few guns and words, the altruism gene her “cousin bill” was onto before he died of some unspeakable disease found only in Africa. Whatever it was it took a scientist in search for proof of goodness!
Something about the visitors, Julia’s family and Julia herself tells me she is a gift to New Zealand. Julia’s mother passed away several years ago, leaving behind a lovely body of poetry. I keep her work by my bedside as a reminder of all things Wellington, of newness, of chance and of change. Jeanette Stance writes of kakas, bugs and the in-between places of existence. The Stance family will always be New Zealand to me, true and true kiwi blood.
On my way to once again procrastinate by prodding through Julia’s small library of New Zealand botany and craft, a cockroach made a desperate leap for my forehead mid-descending of staircase. Squirming and fighting off this strange interloping insect I said, COCKROACH!! Julia, sitting at her computer a meter away, contemplated aloud “Hmmm, yes- at least it’s a native cockroach”
Yes Julia, at least it is a native cockroach.
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