The Tarantula Hole Treasures

Astrid Hemmel sat on the rickety old steps of the wooden deck out behind her mother’s Texas ranch home, watching her four children dig an “army dugout” in front of the play fort they’d constructed out of broken pallets and whatever they could find around the ranch. “These kids are gonna be absolutely filthy by the end of this,” Astrid thought. “Whatever was I thinking letting them dig this big hole in the middle of the yard?!” She teetered on the verge of regretting her decision, until her five-year-old Duncan confidently approached her, waving his shovel confidently, his smile beaming to illuminate his whole face as he declared, “Momma, this is going to be the most awesome fort ever! We’re gonna protect you every day!” She gave an acknowledging nod of affirmation, mustering a grin in response, wishing it could really be that simple.

It was a spring morning but felt about 100 degrees already. Astrid batted a small swarm of mosquitoes away from her sweat-soaked forehead, wondering how many of them already had enjoyed a sampling of her blood. “It’s not even 10:00 yet and I just want to go back to bed,” she thought to herself. “This place is so gross.”

Astrid had returned from Colorado to her dusty little Texas hometown two years earlier. Her alcoholic husband decided he had enough of family life after just eight years of it. After his abuses and infidelities left Astrid permanently scarred, he’d suddenly left her and the kids without so much as a note or a tip of his hat. Around that time, Astrid’s mom Angel suffered a stroke that left her mostly paralyzed on her left side. Though she was recovering, progress was slow. And so, facing the greatest financial and emotional hardship of her life, Astrid had made the difficult decision to join her mother, hoping to make a difference for her but also hoping just to keep her own head above water. Life had nearly drowned her. And even though she felt mostly safe now physically, she wept the loss of dreams she had dreamed in her youth. Dreams of making a lasting difference in the hurting world. Dreams of easing the heartache she seemed to see everywhere she looked. Now she had her own heartache to deal with.

Astrid had never desired fame and fortune. But she’d long wanted to do something heroic in the world- like being a nurse or a doctor in some faraway place, or starting a school somewhere in a place where illiteracy is the norm and children work hard-labor jobs by age four. Astrid dreamed of planting community gardens in places where food is scarce, of digging wells in places where people die from thirst or water-borne illnesses.

Those had been her early dreams. But they were faded memories now, so out of her reach. The unjust reality of her daily life was almost too much for her to bear. She had worked her whole life, never feeling “ahead” financially, always struggling to meet the most basic of needs for her family. Always wondering if things would get better. Lately it just seemed everything was getting worse. Except for her children. What twinkle still remained in her eyes was there because of them.

“Hey, Momma! Maybe we’ll find a buried treasure!” she heard her daughter Amber say, excitedly and with a little wink. There was a mischief in her eyes as though she knew something Astrid didn’t. Amber was her oldest and the most like Astrid. Always trying to see the rainbow in the rain. Always trying to see the silver lining in the clouds.

“Buried treasure,” Astrid thought. “If only. That would fix everything, wouldn’t it?! Those sagging ceiling tiles that look like they’re going to fall right on our heads any day. The molding shower that feels like it’s going to give out under our feet. The roof that leaks when it rains. Oh, and hurricane season is coming soon. Mom’s medical bills. My school loans for the degree program I never even finished. What a waste! Not to mention a decent car to replace our old mini-van that sounds like it’s on its way out too. Maybe a new outfit, some new shoes. For me and Mom and the kids…”

Astrid’s eyes had all but glossed over thinking about what a difference a “buried treasure” would make for her.

As she looked up to see the considerable progress the kids had made on their digging project in such a short time, Astrid felt a sudden boost of energy. A refreshing little breeze cooled her hot, sticky skin and seemed to blow the mosquitoes away just long enough to focus in on a small hole near the edge of the kids’ “fort”.

She got up from the step she’d been sitting on and focused on the small hole that had caught her eye. It looked like a tarantula hole. She walked over to it, investigating more closely while high-fiving her youngest son Ryder, congratulating him on the digging accomplishment so far. “They’ve really made quick progress,” she thought as she crouched down to see if indeed her hunch was confirmed. And it was. She saw the glimmer of a perfect silky white web covering the hole. She hadn’t seen that from where she’d been sitting before. “Kids, we have a friend in here!” she exclaimed, as they huddled around, patiently listening to Astrid as she taught them the few things she knew about Texas tarantulas. They all decided they would dig up the tarantula, ever-so-carefully, and transport it to another part of the yard where it could make a new home in peace, away from the fort. Astrid picked up a hand trowel and got down on her knees to carefully excavate the critter from its hiding place. As she saw the spider, she also saw something beneath it. Something black, something else that was nested even deeper in the dirt. Her curiosity was piqued.

She carefully transferred the tarantula and then returned to continue digging around the black object until she found that it was a black book. Not a thick book, but rather a thin journal-type book. “How extraordinary,” she thought, as she continued digging until she uncovered it completely and could hold it in her hands.

The children were still playing with the tarantula in the other part of the yard. Astrid opened the book to find that the front cover was actually a pocket compartment, filled with hundred-dollar bills! She looked around a moment, to see if a pudgy little fairy godmother was hovering above her head, or if some blue genie had emerged from a bottle somewhere there in the messy yard. But no, it was just her and the black book and the hundred-dollar bills. Already deeply intrigued by this unexpected find, Astrid counted the bills. There were exactly 20 of them. Two thousand dollars?! It would take her more than a year to save that much money from her earnings from work! Could this actually be happening? Was she dreaming?

No longer noticing the sweat and dust of her surroundings, Astrid turned the cover pocket over to see if anything was written inside the book. “Surely whoever buried this intended to come back for it. This is just bizarre!” she thought. Her stomach felt flip-floppy; her knees quivered.

The book’s pages were blank except for two messages written on the first and second pages, in neat print. The writing was not faded, but fresh as though it had been penned earlier that same day. Astrid read the message on the first page:

“This is one of ten equal treasures buried in similar manner on this ranch. They are yours to find and claim, but you must make a choice. Either use them for yourself as you please OR use them to make a difference for others. Should you choose to use this for yourself, keep the money and see how far it goes. Should you choose to help others, simply follow the instructions on the next page and see how far that goes.”

On page two were instructions telling where to take the money to a local charity office. The instructions included the name of who to see, and to specify that the money was to be used to establish a charity medical clinic in Liberia.

“Liberia?! I don’t even know where Liberia even is!” Astrid thought. In that moment she held the money in one hand, the book in the other. She thought of all she could do with that money if she kept it for herself. And then she thought of what it would be like to live in Liberia and to be far away from any medical resources. To have no clean water, no electricity, scarce food, and no doctor within forty miles of home. How terrifying it must be to have no emergency services, no obstetric or pediatric physicians, and little public health education.

As Astrid contemplated what to do with this treasure she had found, she could not stop thinking about the earlier visions she had of making an impact in the world for good. Her vivid past dreams of remedying poverty in some place where destitution is widespread. The vision of this Liberian clinic came into brighter, clearer focus. And she just knew. Without any doubt. She knew she would not keep this money. She would start a clinic in Liberia!

The kids came over to resume their fort project, eager to keep going on it.

“Oh, Momma, are you okay? Why are you crying?” Amber asked.

“One of my best and brightest dreams is coming true, darling,” Astrid replied. She showed her kids the money, the book, the notes, the instructions. She told them about the dreams she dreamed long before she became their mother. Even little Ryder was excited to pause the work on the fort and go look for those other nine books! And so they did just that.

“Look for the tarantula holes, kids! When you find one, we’ll be careful not to hurt the tarantulas… but we will find the books and we will follow the instructions they give!”

“Yes, Momma! We’re gonna find them ALL, Momma!” and they set to it, all five of them. By the end of the afternoon they had five books, and the next day they found five more. Twenty thousand dollars total! Each book presented the choice to use the money for self or others. Each was a unique opportunity to change hundreds of lives for the better.

And so Astrid and her mother Angel and the four children followed those instructions over the course of the next few weeks. They met scores of people in their community, doing amazing things to improve lives for underprivileged, under-valued populations of people. Through the experience Astrid became the director of a new food bank. She learned how non-profit organizations network together to make the world a better place. Her perspective changed. She grew more grateful, more content, more compassionate. More centered on the needs of others.

Astrid never knew how those treasures came to be buried in the tarantula holes on her mother’s ranch. She didn’t need to know. She knew she had made the right decision.

Through her new friendships with many philanthropists in the community, Astrid and her mother and children were encouraged and helped in countless meaningful ways in the next two years. Their needs were met. Their home ceiling was repaired by a group that builds and repairs homes for single moms. A local car dealership awarded Astrid with a new vehicle for her outstanding community service. Nurses and doctors came together and paid off Angel’s medical bills.

Astrid’s children grew to be influential donors and fundraisers in their communities. They filled those ten books with stories of human lives transformed. They never forgot that life-changing day on their grandmother’s ranch. The day they learned that giving IS receiving.