Spiders and a Classy Lady

I had a moment of personal growth this morning.

I work in a library where my job is primarily to put books away. (Let me tell you, I know the alphabet like mad-hot BEAST now. And I'm more familiar with the dewey decimal system than I am with my grandparents. I can basically hold a million books at once. No joke.

(Me as a mad-hot, book-bearing beast.)

This morning I had a cart full of adult-nonfiction books that I was alphabetizing before putting on the shelves. I was in an isolated corner of the library hidden behind tall shelves where nobody ventures so I had the place to myself. Or so I thought.

I looked up from my row of books. There he was. Watching me as I was watching him. A mere 12 inches from my face was the furziest, puffiest, largest jumping spider I had ever seen.

I was frozen. He was frozen. I moved. He moved. We starred deeply into each other's eyes. (It took me a longer time to stare deeply because he had more eyes to stare deeply INTO.) It's like we were in sync. Instead of the deafening dread I normally feel when seeing an arachnid, I felt , dare I say, curious? Peaceful? Empathetic? Just as he was the fluffiest spider I had ever seen, perhaps I was the fluffiest human he had ever seen.

I slowly sank to my knees and hid behind my cart of books. Yes, I had felt a connection to that sucker, but he was still a spider. And yes, while I have more height than him, he has more legs than me and there it just no getting around that.

Periodically, I would shove a row of books apart to sneak a peak at the overly-appendedged guy just to find him watching me right back. (I suppose it would pretty hard not to see me, I mean, when you have 8 eyes, you may as well use at least one of them to keep tabs on the bumbling 5' 7'' beast in front of you.)

(Of course this is what I look like to arachnids.)

Eventually he crept across a couple books and hid behind the shelf against the wall. Because I know the general public has a burning hatred or at least a discomfort for arachnids, I'll advise you not to choose a book written by an author with the last name of "Swierczynski" in the library where I work.

All that aside, I felt as though I made a special connection with the little guy. I returned to that corner periodically throughout the day for various reasons, but every time, looked out for him. I don't know where he went, but I wish him well.

And then I went home to find a nasty spider chillin' in my tub. So I drowned the life outta him with scalding hot water. Things with more than 2 arms/legs ought not be hanging out where I do not wear clothes.

Several of you know this, but my sister does nearly all the drawings for my blog. In preparation for this entry, she and I were chatting over Facebook about what she should draw. She wanted to know what one of my book carts looks like. Since I couldn't explain it to her well, I drew it out in Paint and then sent it her way; and this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I do not illustrate my own blogs.

Personally, I see no difference...