She Touched a Snake

During the months of June and July the library has what they call Thursday Specials.  They have a variety of special activities for kids, including the puppet show we went to last month.  Today it was a representative from the Blank Park Zoo with some animals to introduce to the kids.  The focus of the "lesson" was animals that dig in the ground.  Personally, I don't know how a snake qualifies as such and I absolutely don't think it was necessary to have one there, but my opinion was not sought out.  Of course, the very first animal she pulled out was a snake.  Right away Aria looked at me and said, "You don't like snakes."  It was all I could do to not run out of there and throw up.  Here's the deal.  I have a large phobia of snakes.  I know it is irrational, but they just give me the willies.  I can't even go into a reptile house at a zoo because I just can't look at them.  I'm not sure where it came from, other than my mom really doesn't like them either.  So, I just looked at the ground while the zoo lady talked about the snake and held it for everyone to see.  Ack!  I'm getting the chills just writing about it.  Anyway, she finally put it away and pulled out some much better animals to share; a tortoise, a pygmy hedgehog, and a baby alligator.  All the kids in the room enjoyed all the animals and we did learn some facts about each of them.  At the end, the zoo lady announced she would get one animal back out for everyone to have the chance to pet on their way out.  I was rooting real hard in my heart for the adorable pygmy hedgehog, but of course it was the disgusting ball python.  Yes, I do realize many of the children were excited about touching the snake, including my very own child.  That doesn't change my opinion.  Disgusting.  Alas, I put on my big girl mom pants and waited in line with Aria so she could touch the snake.  It was all I could do to get close enough to get this lovely, non-smart cell phone picture.

Look at her being all brave and following the "touch the snake with two fingers on the tail" instructions.  She was thrilled and so was I, once we got the heck away from that thing!