The Friendly Bat

I remember it well. It was April 16, 2022, when my wife and I had an unexpected visit from a bat. It was about 10:00 pm and we were just getting into bed when Anne yelled, “Calvert there’s a bat in our room. Duck under the covers!” I looked up and thought I saw that bat doing a dive bomb towards my head, so I quickly ducked under the covers. Anne asked what we should do, and my first thought was to swing a broom at it, followed by “I wish I had a gun!”

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Needless to say, our top concern was to get it out of the house without being bitten or scratched. We didn’t know if it was rabid, and we weren’t very excited to hold out our hand and offer it something to eat or a place to sleep.

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Anne jumped up out of bed and ran out of the room to try to do something to encourage the bat to fly out of our bedroom (I have a medical condition that prohibits me from jumping out of bed and running out of the room and down the stairs without unentangling myself). 

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Anne remained calm and quickly thought to open the front door, turn on the porch lights, and stand back, hoping the bat would fly out into the night. This friendly bat did follow Anne down the stairs and by now was flying around the first floor of our house as though he were a tourist on a sightseeing tour. He seemed determined to have a good look around, repeatedly swishing past Anne, visiting and revisiting the kitchen, living room, and dining room, showing little to no interest in going out through the open door.

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As the bat seemed ready to settle in for the night, Anne called one of our daughters who was sleeping downstairs with her husband to ask for advice on how to get rid of the bat. Awakening from a sound sleep, she said she wasn’t sure, but maybe you were supposed to use a broom? I arrived at the scene a moment later, just in time to see the bat fly out the door, watch as Anne’s face turned to relief, hear her exhale a big “Whew,” and celebrate as a smile spread across her face.

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I congratulated her on being so smart and thinking and acting so quickly in this unexpected and somewhat unnerving situation. We went upstairs together, gave each other a big hug, then hopped back into bed. We were a bit too excited by it all to sleep right away, so we had a short conversation about our visit from the friendly bat.

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We were curious about how it wandered into our house because we hadn’t seen any bats in the area. Maybe it hitchhiked home in our car from Antelope Island where Anne and our daughters had been out to watch the bison and their newly born calves? Since bison can weigh over 2,000 pounds, the family wisely watched from the safety of the car, with the back gate open for better viewing. Did the bat fly in and somehow get trapped until they got home and started unloading the car?

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I guess we may never know why this bat decided to visit our home and scare the heebee jeebees out of us (ok, this may be an exaggeration), but one thing is certain, we will always remember our visit from this friendly bat, and we will always have a fun story to tell, which thankfully turned out well for everyone, people and winged creature alike

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As parents we need to expect the unexpected. Like Anne’s close encounter with the bat, we may not have much time to think about it before we need to react, but let’s make sure our kids know that we will always be there with them, to help them deal together with whatever flies into our lives.

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Happy Failing Forward,

Calvert 

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