Denise Mortensen: June 2014

I might have written a picture book about cute little bugs, but let me tell you how I really feel about them: THEY TERRIFY ME.

My phobic relationship with bugs started when I was just a toddler. We lived in a house with rock walls on both sides of the driveway. Those walls were gigantic bug meccas teeming with hairy, squiggly, writhing little monsters like pill bugs, earwigs, worms, spiders, beetles and ants. These miniature marauders made it their duty to harass and spook me on a daily basis. Once, a shaggy brown spider crawled out from the handlebar on my tricycle while I was riding it down a hill. Another time, a kamikaze beetle crashed into my hair and wouldn’t let go. I’m pretty sure that the earwigs, or clipper bugs, as we called them, had their vector beams trained on me because they were always lurking in my towel or my sheets.

Later on, those bugs on the rock walls provided instant bait for my brothers, who loved to chase me through the house with their wriggling prizes. One of my older brother’s favorite tricks was to de-leg a daddy long-leg spider and chase me with the still-squiggling round ball.

These harrowing early-life encounters with bugs have shaped me into the full-fledged bugaphobe that I am today.

So recently, while visiting New Orleans, the opportunity came up to visit the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium. I thought it would be about as much fun as a gum grafting appointment at the periodontist. Why would I pay good money to see a bunch of sinister little beasts?

Then I realized, this might be a good opportunity to confront my bug fear in a controlled environment. They would be behind glass and I could choose which ones to look at. There would be no surprise attacks. It would all be very clinical and clean.

And it was! Except for a heart-stopping encounter with a giant African millipede (imagine the squishing sound if you stomped on one of those-ewww!) looping around a volunteer’s hand, I kept my cool. The visit ended with a stroll through the Butterfly Garden, where I saw exquisite butterflies flitting around the room. The best part was, they were out in the open and they were behaving themselves. To me, this is step one towards making peace with my multi-legged friends AND my fear itself.

So, if you're not the squeamish type, have a look here at some of these amazing little creatures from my visit. They might be small, but they are Mother Nature’s mighty little masterpieces (and they do make great characters for kids' books!).