On the Day Before Earth Day, I....

killed a snake.
A BIG snake!
Well, I've never killed a snake! So, forgive me, if I consider it a life-altering event.
I also find it paradoxical that I had to kill this HUGE snake (it gets bigger every time I think about it) yesterday - the day before Earth Day.
Any of you who know me at all, know that I am not a killer. I am not even one who injures.
I am overly sensitive when it comes to others.
So I realize I may be judged here.
But I plead self-defense & third party defense (is there even such a thing)?

I opened the door to let out Miss Ellie (my 5.7 lb Maltese) and she barks and there is a snake - A HUGE, HUGE snake coiled about 2 inches from her face.
Not good at all.
Then, it decided to come inside where there's A/C to visit with me.
Uh uh - NOT gonna happen, my reptilian friend (or foe as it came to be).

It got in the door and I'm embarrassed to admit, I actually thought, "What am I going to do? I can't live with this snake!"
Then instinct kicked in when Miss Ellie came in.
A big board was right by the door and I killed it ("it" being the HUGEST snake you ever saw).
I'll spare you the details of how long that took. Terrible.
However, there IS a moral here. I promise.
And it isn't just that I thought of a great sequel for Samuel Jackson:
"SNAKES IN A MOTHERF***IN' HOUSE"!!!

No, what I learned is this. Now that I've done it, I know I can. So, I felt & feel strong and a little like Wonder Woman or at least like Kelly Garrett on Charlie's Angels or something.
Of course, my mom said, "I'm proud of you, honey, but you children never grew up on a farm. We had to kill tons of them in the cotton fields". Well, no. I spent a lot of time of my Nanny & Papaw's farm, but, they would have had that snake before I would have even seen it. They were magical snake warriors like that!

But by "simply" exterminating a snake that invaded my home and just doing something that terrified me, I feel like I could pretty much do anything required of me.
Why am I just figuring that out?
Oh, I always knew. But I think sometimes we forget. You know, if you haven't been tested in a while or if someone's there to take the test for you, you get a little rusty on those "Wonder Woman/ basic survival 101" skills.
So I'm glad I passed the snake test with flying colors!
Yuck. Bad choice of words.
Sorry 'bout that one.
So here's to all of the Wonder Women, Charlie's Angels, and Supermen out there and all of us who need reminding that we have superheroes inside us and they've been there all along!

p.s. I PROMISE that this is the ONLY time you will see a picture of a snake on here. But think of it as symbolic. Really, it is...