Mom Talk

We went to a birthday party today at the home of a friend. It was for a 6-year-old boy so they had a guy come out to entertain called “Safari Steve”. He brought the usually fun reptile stuff like snakes and lizards. He also had a baby alligator, a Madagascar hissing cockroach and other wonderful things. One of our friends volunteered me to help the guy get one of his creatures out. Since my spider bite I have been absolutely TERRIFIED of spiders so I asked before I agreed to help if it was a bug, spider or anything with eight legs. Safari Steve assured me it was not. I had to turn my back to his cages as he got it out and when it emerged from the basket, I saw the faces of all my friends drop. They KNOW me and the spider thing, even the one who volunteered me. They all were saying stuff like, “No way, that’s not funny.” and “Seriously, don’t put that on her.”
It was, of course, a tarantula. Apparently, they have TEN legs and are not actually “spiders”. Technicalities do not compute with severe arachnophobia (read my post about the lamp string). I felt my heart start to race and my throat close up. I knew I was going to cry in front of all these people and I was so embarrassed. Fortunately, the guy took me seriously and didn’t touch me with the thing. I later held a scorpion of some kind and was fine with that. Even the snakes didn’t really freak me out. I guess I’m not into “shock therapy” to cure me of my fear.