Arachnophobia

So, I'm afraid of spiders. To anyone who knows me, this is not a surprising statement.
It all stems from a night of terrible parenting (thanks mom), when, at the tender age of 5, I was allowed to watch Arachnophobia.  It's a terrible movie by anyone's standards, but the premise of deadly spiders running rampant and attacking [and killing] people was pretty upsetting. 

Yet, I had managed to come to terms with the 8 legged creatures and had no trouble killing them when they had the unfortunate happenstance to saunter into my presence. 

And then, it happened.  I've never really blogged about this event before.  Mostly because it occurred pre-blog and I really try to forget it ever happened.  But, since that fateful day, the sight of a spider (or pretty much any creeping crawling thing) leaves me feeling dry-mouthed and covered in pins and needles for hours. 

I was sitting at my desk in the old BYUB building in Utah.  I was working on data entry, I'm sure, when I felt a slight movement on my head (I will have you know, just writing this story is making me feel light-headed).  I instinctively reached up and ran my fingers through my hair to clear out whatever was on my head.  Into the trash can [conveniently] located to my right fell the largest spider I have ever seen with my own two eyes. 

I exaggerate not, it was the size of my palm.  The only witness I have to event was a fellow student employee who took my trash can, killed the spider and then proceeded to examine him to see if he was poisonous. 

I think I was in shock.  I didn't scream.  I didn't cry.  I just was frozen.  Said student employee commented on how well I handled the situation.  I tried to sit down at my desk and finish the work day - but, honestly, I couldn't.  I mean - WHERE DID THE SPIDER COME FROM?  How did it get on my head?  Did that mean it had crawled up my body?  Or my chair?  Or had it come dangling down from above and plopped there?  None of the prospects made sitting at that desk remotely possible for the rest of the day.  So, I found non-desk-related work to keep my busy...although I've never spent so much time looking over my shoulder or running my hands through my hair. 

Now, whenever I see a spider, I instinctively run my hands through my hair - an action I have taken about 20 times while writing this tale - and then (after killing the little monster) abandon whatever task I was doing for something seemingly spider free. 

So, the moral of the story?  Spiders suck. 

Carry on.

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