Showering With Strangers

i showered with a stranger this morning.

i should have expected it, having witnessed the Law of Attraction at work and all ...

you see, i spent the weekend at a family reunion in oklahoma.

got to hang out with my very cool, rodeo-ing 18-year-old nephew ben.

we gave him his high school graduation gift - new macbook with all the bells and whistles.

seeing the look on his face when he realized he wasn't JUST getting the 5 dollar sonic giftcard was priceless.

so he loaded up his new laptop with some songs from his phone's mp3 player ... stuff i hadn't heard before as i'm not really all that in to country music. and he grew up and continues to reside in oklahoma.

'nuff said.

so ben's playing for me his favorites, one of which is a song by brad paisley titled "ticks".

and i must say it's danged funny.

we sat by the pool watching the "young-uns" swim in the dark and by the glow of his laptop i learned the lyrics, which we then sang out LOUD until i couldn't get them out of my head ...

"cause i'd like to see you out in the moonlight
i'd like to kiss you way back in the sticks
i'd like to walk you through a field of wildflowers
and i'd like to check you for ticks"

so you've probably guessed it - the small, dark and decidedly repulsive stranger i discovered in my shower this morning was, yes, a TICK.

all together now ... eeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

he was strategically located on my hip, just far enough around that i'd need the flexibility of an owl to get a good look at him.

so i called in the big guns.

john. a lighter. a pair of needle-nose pliers.

i don't really want to go in to the details. suffice it to say, this morning's tick removal wasn't pretty.

but DANG, i have no idea where he came from, all i know is i haven't had a tick since i was like 10 years old and boom, two days after belting out tick lyrics for a whole weekend i got one setting up house on my hindquarters.