Fear is the topic for Jen of Sprite’s Keeper’s  Spin Cycle this week and I was trying to decide what to write about when I spotted one of these bad boys on my back porch….    

Glad that it was outside and not in! I shuddered and danced around on my tip toes for a few minutes with that creepy feeling you get when you see a critter like this.   I thought for today’s Spin Cycle I’d share a few encounters I’ve had with the the above arachnid and I’ve definitely had a few.  

The first story is pre-hubby…  I had been dating this guy, we’ll call him Mr. X, for a few days.  Mr. X and I were supposed to meet friends for a night out on the town and he arrived at my house a little early.  Feeling a bit grubby from work I decided to take a shower and start getting ready for the evening.  I was in the process of rinsing the shampoo out of my hair when I felt something wiggle under my foot.  I looked down, which is something you shouldn’t do with a head full of soapy suds, and saw a HUGE spider like the one in the picture above but bigger!  At about the same time I realized what it was, the shampoo started stinging my eyes causing me to squeeze my eyelids shut.  Not able to see the huge, hairy, eight legged freak anymore fear took over and I decided to fly out of the shower screaming.  I can’t imagine what Mr. X must have heard or thought, but he came running through to find me on the floor covered in suds, on all fours, with shower curtain, rod and all.  Trying not look, he asked if I was ok?  I grabbed a towel to cover all my nakedness and with a crazed look of fear in my now blood shot eyes started to jump up and down uncontrollably.  I was sooooo embarrassed!  Mr. X was able to flush the spider down the toilet (it was to big to wash down the drain).  We ended up going out and my encounter made for some great chit chat over drinks.

Now on to post hubby experience…  Hubby and I were in bed one night watching T.V.  Hubby had dosed off and I decided to grab one of the pillows off the chair to prop myself up a bit more.  A few minutes into the show I felt a tickle on my neck, thinking it was just the fringe from the pillow I reached back to readjust the pillow, at which point I felt it move…. Fear struck me and I started to flick at my neck, much like a dog scratching an itch behind it’s ear with it’s back paw.  I flicked the spider, which was also HUGE to the foot of the bed where it landed, regained it’s composure and started to charge back at me like a soldier from the movie 300.  At some point during this event I must have started screaming because Erich sat straight up looking dazed and confused.  He took a few seconds to realize what was going on and was able to dispose of the spider before it reached me.  What he wasn’t thrilled about, I made him strip down the bed and remake it to ensure the spider didn’t have any family members that would try and revenge their sibling in the night. 

 The third story is much like the above except this spider decided to try and be all stealth, by lowering itself from the ceiling like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible.  One of my arms was exposed and hanging off the bed. Every few seconds I would feel a little tickle on my arm and kept swatting at it much like you do when your friends start tickling your nose, shaving your eyebrows and writing with lip liner all over your face because you were the first to fall asleep at the slumber party but I digress… The spider wasn’t tickling my arm, it was trying to gain traction to run down my arm with it’s eight hairy little legs, which it did! Right about the time I realized what it was.   I flicked it clear across the room, screaming and waking my husband again.  The only difference this time being we couldn’t find the little sucker.  My hubby told me it was probably long gone by now but that didn’t stop me jolting awake throughout the night like a crazed loon.

The final encounter I’ll share was in my minivan driving to a Mother’s Club meeting I had only made it a few blocks away when I spotted something moving on my dashboard.  A car coming in the opposite direction cast a spotlight on the eight legged little monster and I thought to myself ok I can do this!  If it moves right I’ll keep an eye on it and when I get to the meeting I’ll introduce it to my shoe.  WRONG!  This spider was either suicidal or in the mood to bungy jump it came running straight towards the steering wheel and more to the point ME.  I gripped my steering wheel, my arms stiffened, and I thought maybe, just maybe it would stop at the edge of the dash but it just dropped.  I flew off the road and up into one of my neighbors well manicure lawns.  I jumped out of the van, started to strip and pat myself down.  Unable to find the spider I left my van running with the door open and walked a few blocks home.  Hubby was a little ticked off and lectured me as he left to go retrieve the van.  He finally found the spider and disposed of it after showing it to me (he knows me to well I wouldn’t get back in the van without seeing that the spider had met it’s demise..lol).  

For more spin on Fear or if you’d like to participate head on over to The Spin Cycle.