Arachnophobia

As I mentioned in my previous post, Mark has been gone all weekend long. I really wish he was here when I encountered a very disconcerting 8-legged creature last night. It was about 1 am (I'm a night owl, I guess it runs in the family) and I was working on my grant proposal that I'm doing for a class at the kitchen table. In the corner of my eye, I see something scurrying across my nasty brown carpet (no offense mom--I love the apartment, just not the floors) less than a foot away from me.

Let me take this opportunity to explain how my severe arachnophobia came about. I never used to react so badly to the presence of spiders. Sometimes they would freak me out, but most of the time I would just grab some toilet paper and crush it, later sending it on a journey down the toilet. Then, I came to BYU and became a Public Health major. I've enjoyed my major up to this point. However, it does have its downfalls considering that every possible disease I learn about torments my brain and convinces me that I have the disease as well. In my Advanced First Aid class, we watched a video on black widows in Arizona. The people in the video got bitten by a black widow either by sticking their foot in a shoe that a spider had camped out in, or the black widow found it pleasing to snuggle up to a human in their BED. The people in the video said their black widow bites were the most excruitiating pain they have ever experienced and all landed in the hospital for two weeks plus. Because of this, I always check my shoes for any visitors before putting them on. Now when I see a spider, I automatically believe that it is a black widow/brown recluse out to get me. Moving on...

The spider was brown and camouflaged quite nicely in the carpet. I sat there staring at the little creeper for a good 5 minutes. Then I mustered up the courage to sprint to my bedroom to find my heaviest winter boot that would be sure to crush the sucker. I got back to find my new "friend" hiding underneath the table. This time we exchanged looks for 10 minutes. I was completely frozen. I knew I couldn't kill him at the angle he was positioned, so I waited. Then I decided to get the guy to move a little so I could get a better whack at it. However, he quickly scurried out of my view. This terrified me. I started feeling little spider legs all over me and I screamed very loud (Thank goodness my neighbors didn't call the cops...that would have been embarrassing to explain). I began to tear off my clothes and I ran to my bedroom and shut the door. I even stuffed some dirty bed sheets under the crack of the door so Mr. Spider wouldn't be able to come for a late night visit.

Knowing that the spider is loose in my house leaves me terrified. I've kept an eye out for him all day. Thank goodness my Markie-Mark will be home tonight to protect me from such foul creatures.

I was considering posting a picture of a real spider, but all the google images scared the crap out of me. This toy one should suffice.