Infestation

Anyone who knows me well enough (or not at all and happened to be in the same room when I was on the subject) knows how much I hate

Hate

HATE

...infestations. I have absolutely no tolerance for anything non human living in my house, except spiders. Spiders and I have an understanding: I hate bugs, they eat bugs. We work together, but that's it. (Don't tell my wife, she doesn't like spiders at all)

But it's especially grating when it's the kind of bug that likes people. Many a year ago, in Buffalo, our apartment had a problem with bed bugs. My neighbor took in some guests that had been bouncing from one seedy hotel to another, and soon after brought the infestation. It wasn't long before they crawled through the walls (yea, they do that) right into my kids bedroom.

I knew I didn't like any sort of infestation, but that's when I learned just how much I hated it when they preferred to eat people. I won't go into any detail, but it was a rage inducing nightmare that lasted six months (that my landlord had to pay for). 

I suppose head lice is tame in comparison. We only needed to treat bedding (threw in the couches for good measure), do a lot of laundry, and soak some heads in a funny smelling shampoo. My wife knew what to look for, and I got a crash course during so that I'd know what to look for on her. Our daughter (whose hair is so rich and so fine) had some visitors, and one son had a tourist. All else were clean, but I'm willing to burn half my house to make sure of it.

My kids had a varied response to the required treatment, but that was inevitable.

The real issue is... where on Earth did they come from? My family, who also sees only other family (we're seriously a bubble), or the one neighbor girl with exceedingly thick, long hair that you could lose a shoe in (not gonna lie, I'm a bit envious) and had previously mentioned that she'd had head lice once or twice in the distant past and oh can I borrow a winter hat while I play outside in the snow with your kids great thanks.

I guess we'll never know.