I never came across any of those giant water bugs. I do remember hordes of fish flies, though! Every year, last two weeks in July. Then they’d disappear in time for the Icelandic Festival.

Mouthyorange, I had bug phobia every summer. Mainly bees. Every time I saw or heard a bee I literally froze, just couldn’t move. I wasn’t stung till I was 18 though, and when it happened I was like “that was it? I was paranoid about *that* for all those years?” It was like a hot needle, that was all. I’ve been stung by wasps a few times since and seeing them fly close to me is still scarier than actually being stung (of course, I’m not allergic).

But the giant water bugs. Gah. They could still scare me, and I can totally understand how freaked out I was as a kid. The only difference is that now I have to put on a brave front for my own kids!

In defense of my neighbour’s mum, she didn’t know any other way to get me out of the house, and it just wasn’t the thing to do in those days to give in to children’s whims and fears. It’s possible that my child’s eyes saw many more of them than there actually were, or that most of them had already been squished or were sluggish for some reason. I don’t remember seeing them in such great numbers any other time, it’s the weirdest memory.

Gee, I don’t believe in Freudian slips — especially not when simple typos better explain something. But maybe there’s something to the idea that we try to save others who we perceive to need saving because we wish someone would save US.

Okay, I think we could all use saving from the false light. There sure is plenty of it around. And we need something kinder than pavement to land on.

I love the levels and layers of insight in your writing, and how effortlessly you seem to connect them and slip back and forth between them.

Wow, I find those bugs disturbing! I don’t recall seeing one here in Eastern Ontario, but I’ll look now. But I’d save one if I needed saving. I might even put it back in our big pond. Yikes.

I feel like pouting at your friend’s mum who told you not to be a Scaredy Cat. Feh. I wouldn’t tell a kid not to be scared! Encourage them to deal with it, yeah. But not tell them to feel what they feel. I like better what my best grown-up friend often says — you can’t be brave if you’re not scared. I’ll try to keep her advice in mind next time I’m in Winnipeg. In Ontario, I’ve been pinched twice by earwigs — the last time was surprisingly painful. Those water bugs are so much bigger!