PHOBIA

When I was younger, my little brother had a "pet" tarantula. I didn't really think much of it and, for the most part, forgot the thing was even in the house. Then one day, for whatever reason, my dad thought it would be "funny" to let the spider walk around on the table after supper. Gross right? We sat there, watching it crawl around. Then all of a sudden, it stopped right in front of me and jumped!!!! For those of you who have never seen a tarantula up close,they are disgusting. They are hairy and prickly and scary. I was wearing a wool sweater, which resulted in the tarantula getting stuck to my chest. Of course I turned into a typical "scream your head off, jumping up and down, flinging your arms around" girly girl while trying to get it off. Ewww, I get goosebumps just thinking about it. Anyways, ever since that day, I have been TERRIFIED of spiders. Not just a little bit, but 100% leave the room freaking out, total arachniphobia if there is a spider. Of any kind. So, I have always thought that one of the few things Grande Prairie had going for it, in my book, is that there aren't any overly huge spiders here. That I knew of or have ever seen. Until last week. Oh my gosh. There was a spider on my front flower garden brick that was so big I just might have peed my pants. I have never seen any spider that big before that wasn't in some sort of cage. I totally paniked and ran inside. Then I had all of these thoughts of "what if it got in the house?" "What if it went in one of the kids rooms? Or MY room?" It had to die. End of story. But was Nathan home? Of course not. I was actually going to have to deal with this thing on my own. Holy bejeebers. I puffed up to my full 5 foot nothing height and went back outside, picked up the biggest rock within reach, and dropped it on the spider.......and ran back inside. There the rock stayed for days. I dared not let anyone move it. On Saturday, my friend Meaghan came over and, I watched from inside the house, as she went and flipped over the rock. Let's just say "I GOT IT!"

I sure am brave. And still scared spitless of spiders.