Arachnophobia

I have arachnophobia. I don't even try to pretend that I don't.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, it means fear of spiders.
And because of my arachnophobia, what happened to me Friday night was very unpleasant.
I am trying very hard not to think about it so that I can sleep at night. Here is the story.

On Friday nights my family and Mark's business partner's family get together for dinner at their house. We exchange weeks cooking, but always meet there since they have four kids and a MUCH more entertaining backyard. Austin wakes up from his nap most days begging to go to their house and play. They have a swingset, playhouse, trampoline, tire swing, sand box, kiddie pool with a slide and a gazebo for shade and eating. Austin loves to play with their kids and is always good and exhausted when we leave. We always have a great time.

Anyway, on with the bane of my night.

It was my week to cook and I had made strombolis and watermelon mojitos (I will post the recipes soon). In addition, there was mint flavored iced tea which was refreshing on a warm and slightly humid night. The kids were having a great time and Austin couldn't get enough of the trampoline. Eventually, Mia was starting to get fussy because it was well past her bedtime and she is one of those babies that won't fall asleep if it is hot, she is overtired or basically if she isn't at home in her bed. I started to try to gather things up and get ready to go. I grabbed my iced tea and poured a little bit more in my cup. About that time Austin came running under the gazebo. I told him it was time to take off his wet swim trunks and get ready to go. He noticed the cup in my hand and said, "lemonade pwease." I told him that it was iced tea and not lemonade..."iced tea pwease." Austin is infamous for putting his hand in the cup to get some ice, so I decided to just quickly drink what I wanted and give him the rest while I finished packing up. I was basically chugging the iced tea. I finally stopped and looked into the cup to be sure that I wasn't leaving him too much or too little. That action, and the fact that Austin wanted some to begin with, is what saved me from therapy. As I looked into the cup to check the amount, I saw something dark in the bottom of the cup. Initially I thought to myself, "I'm sure it is just a shadow or I just can't see clearly because it is getting dark." But, after looking carefully I was sure there was something, like a bug, in the bottom of the cup. Meanwhile, Austin was begging for iced tea and I was trying not to freak out. I grabbed another cup and poured him some tea so that I could go in the house where there was better light and determine what was truly in the bottom of my cup. I walked inside and as soon as the light hit the cup, I knew. There, swirling around in the ice of my minty tea was a very large daddy long-leg spider. It is possible that those long legs may have touched my lips! Ugh...yuck....ppffttt...go to my happy place!

I am cringing as I write this and trying hard to just get the story down without letting it sink in too much. Oh the horror of what did or could have happened!