I was what I would call very sheltered as a child, my mother never really allowed anything to happen to me, good or bad or otherwise. So obviously as a 6 year old who had never seen a large snake, I was thrilled one morning when I woke up to find a pet Boa constrictor on the back patio.

I believe this was a weekday during the summer, as my father was gone from the house and I wasn’t in school at the time. I woke up to find my mom screaming and shaking me in bed to wake up. Of course as all little kids in the summer I was reluctant to get up, for we had no plans for today to my knowledge. As my mother hurried me into some shoes, and shoved me through the hallway I began to wonder why she was acting soo odd.

Then I saw it! A 20 Foot long, tree trunk thick snake, or so it seemed at the time, baking itself on the back patio in the hot florida sun. My eyes gleamed with excitement, and maybe a slight yelp of fear at such a creature that could swallow me whole. I broke free from my mothers grasp and began trying to reach it through the glass doors leading to the patio, my mother screamed and yanked me away from the back of the house, and pulled me through the front door, shoved me in the car, and drove off.

For years I wondered why my mother was soo hysterical over what was most likely a 4-6 ft long pet snake, but it turns out she is horribly afraid of snakes and believes they are the devil coming to eat your soul. However it occurs to me now, that instead of running away and driving to a relatives house; Why didn’t she just call animal control? or merely close the blinds and let it slither away?

To this day when i ask her about the snake she claims it was pounding against the back sliding doors, trying to break into the house…

Turns out that just sometimes, mothers can be crazy.