Friendly Snakes - May 12, 2022 | Kids Out and About Seattle <

Friendly Snakes

May 12, 2022

Debra Ross

I hate snakes, except when I'm with my friend Linda Bender. 

When I say hate, of course, I really mean fear: I don't know the difference between snakes that will hurt me and snakes that won't, so when I encounter them in the wild, especially when I'm with my kids, the fight-or-flight instinct baked into my DNA by a thousand generations of mothers kicks in. [Question: If a mom screams in the woods and only her kids are there to hear, does it count?] But when we're with Linda, who is a professional naturalist, her knowledge gets between me and my fear. Linda loves snakes, and she knows everything about the ones who live in our neck of the woods. If Linda tells us it's safe, my fear becomes fascination—made possible by Linda's confidence and by some deep breaths to calm my racing pulse.

I hate pain, except when I'm with my friend Matt Dorsey.

I also hate the saying "No pain, no gain"—I always want to replace it with "No pain, NO PAIN!"—but it's sometimes necessary if you want to get fit. I can know this in my head, but it doesn't translate to my body: When I exercise alone, my instinct is to stay squarely in my comfort zone. But Sensei Matt's 40 years of experience teaching karate and fitness gets between me and my fear: He tells me what to do, and I know that means I'm safe, so I can push my limits and make progress.

Linda and Matt are my tour guides to the unknown, to things that I couldn't do without their guidance. I trust them in exactly the same way that my kids trust me: not as a replacement for my judgment, but as a supplier of information I lack. I can't be my own kids' tour guide to everything—I don't know everything—so I keep my eye open for those who have expertise I don't, who can add their knowledge to my kids' toolkit of facts as they step into their futures. After all, some of the snakes on the path are actually friends rather than foes. I recommend finding a Linda for your life to tell you which are which.

Deb