I’m slowly becoming a friend of nature (like sometimes I help out a trapped fly)

Originally published on Medium

I’m not sure when this happened. It was a slow gradual thing. But now, when I see a bug in the house, my first instinct isn’t to freak out or kill it.

I try to help it out.

Weird.

There’s been more bugs than usual since it’s springtime. Sometimes a fly wanders into the room and I hear that familiar buzz.

Usually, I get annoyed then plot how to best trap it with the fly swatter.

But now?

I think: Oh crap, not another one. Why don’t they learn?

I stand up and stare at the fly, hurling its tiny body again and again into the window glass, trying to escape. And I shake my head and continue talking to it like it’s a stubborn toddler.

I know, I know. You want to go outside. Guess what, I can’t let you out this way. The window has a screen. Didn’t your friend from last week warn you? If you come into a house, you gotta leave the same way you came in.

And then I start plotting: How do I get it outside without freaking it out more?

I finally managed to herd the frantic fly out the back door, then shut the door quickly to make sure another fly doesn’t accidentally come in.

And I won’t go into the details of trying to help an anxious bee get outside. After 20 minutes of it crawling the wrong way on the window, I took a deep breath, told my brain to stop screaming “It’s a BEE!!!” and scooped it into a cup and set it free outside.

And then I sat on the floor until I stopped trembling.

I used to think those people that gently trap spiders in cups to set them free outside were crazy.

But apparently I’m one of them now.

I wasn’t expecting that.