An Uninvited Stowaway!

Well, my adventures seem to continue. I had yet another one today that I'm sure you would be so thrilled to hear about. Even if you aren't, well, you're reading this post so that means you kind of have to, unless you stop reading of course.

This morning I climbed out of bed and got ready for work as usual. I may have slept in a little extra and taken slightly longer than usual to get ready (I'm in pre-vacation mode you should understand), but it was an otherwise uneventful morning.

After work I was planning to run some pre-trip errands, and I decided it just wouldn't be fun to do them in a skirt, so I grabbed a pair of capris to change into. I also wasn't sure what my lunch plans were going to be so I also picked up my book. It didn't really sound fun to jam them in the grocery sack that I pack my lunch in every day, so I picked up one of my bags to take instead. I shoved everything inside, zipped it up and headed out the door.

I had meant to call my sister the night before to discuss plans for meeting on Wednesday but hadn't gotten around to it. As I walked from the parking garage to my building I was conversing freely with her, all the way up to my desk. I logged into my computer and set my bag down on the desk.

I was dismayed and terrified to discover an uninvited stowaway! Just after I set it down, a spider dashed out and ran across my desk. Because I was on the phone and because I was so startled, I didn't have the presence of mind to smash it before it disappeared. I quickly ended my conversation with my sister and then I turned into an irrational girl. (As a side note, I live in the basement of my home and have become adept at killing spiders. For some reason if I'm around someone else who can do it for me, suddenly I can't do it myself.) I had developed an irrational fear of my desk at work!

I quickly walked over to the other side of my cube wall to ask my co-worker to come find the spider and kill it for me. I was amused to discover he's actually more scared of them than I am and instead another female friend came over to do the deed.

Now, I have accepted the idea that I live in the basement and must deal with the spiders there, but work is officially a no-spider zone. Therefore, I was feeling so violated that a spider had dared to take up residence there, even if it was a temporary, uninvited residence. Each seemingly harmless item on my desk--stapler, tape dispenser, card file, binder, notebook, cell phone holder--all became the enemy that may or may not be housing a fugitive! Terrible when your own office supplies suddenly turn against you!

My friend picked carefully through each item and searched around my whole desk, but that darn thing was nowhere to be found. She apologized and left a wad of Kleenex in my cube window, just in case. I was terrified to sit down, afraid that stinkin' spider would come running out as soon as I did. All my movements were reserved and tentative at first (which really sucks when you're trying to tie everything up so you can leave on vacation the next day!) but eventually I found my way into my work groove and all was well.

The stowaway was never found. I hope I don't come back to work on Monday and find my desk covered in cobweb. Now that would be disturbing!