This morning, the sun was peeping through a warm September sky here in New England. I had stayed overnight at Audrey’s to help out while her husband was out-of-town for a day. As I opened my eyes to this beautiful day, I saw something even more beautiful… William and Alexander staring at me.

Within a nano-second, I heard, “Mommy. Grandma’s awake!”

Then back to me. “Grandma. Can we play in our tree fort?”

The “tree fort” is one of those strong, wooden outdoor play sets with swings, a slide, a covered area, etc. In my day, we called these things “swing sets.” Today, they are more like Disney World!

I thought for a second and then said, “Sure.” I didn’t even have the time to ask Audrey, who was making eggs and fixing bottles and getting ready to take William to pre-school… all at the same time. I kind of had a feeling that William should be getting ready for pre-school, too, rather than playing in the tree fort.

But. I’m a grandma. Need I say more?

I quickly got dressed and we headed to the back yard. William. Alexander. Benjamin. And me. The sun was now peeking over the tree tops. The glistening dew was beginning to lift. And laughter filled the air.

Until Alex got caught in one of those stringy spider webs on his way down the slide. “EWWWWWW,” he screamed, fighting through the biggest spider web I had ever seen. “Grandma, help me!” he yelled.

Now, I don’t admit to being a spider person. I am not a spider web person. So I quickly found a large stick, wrapped the spider web around it, and began to walk toward a little wooded area to drop the stick and the web. Well, that was not going to happen… because the boys spotted 5 little bundles of eggs dangling from that stick and that web.

“Charlotte’s Web!” William said.

And Alex joined in. “Charlotte’s Web,” he whispered.

Now I was in charge of not only Charlotte, but also of all of her itsy-bitsy baby spiders all nestled in those 5 little brown pouches. This was a huge responsibility. So early in the morning. With my grandsons watching.

I let them each place a hand on that big stick, and we all carried it, with Charlotte’s babies, to a far corner of the yard. There, we placed the stick next to a small pile of firewood that was protected by a large rock. We talked about Charlotte and her babies and being kind to creatures of all sizes. We all stood there, staring at those pouches… and I wished the very best for each of those little babies.

Today, spiders became more important to me. And I thank God that my little grandsons are growing to care and love all creatures great and small. Today, one of life’s great lessons came in the smallest little pouches!