This is a story of a woman, her night and how she could rise to overcome one of her greatest fears!
Last night at Delaware Speedway was a night we’ve all been waiting for – the Summer Showdown, where NASCAR stars Kyle Busch, David Reutimann and Jason Leffler flew in to spend the day at our track and race our local guys. All three men were super nice and Busch, at 25, is so cool, collected and – against his reputation – classy. I asked Jason Leffler about his three year old son and he told me the lad is a Cup series fan. Jason races in the Nationwide series! They were gracious and enthusiastic and the five-thousand or so fans were loving it.
The day, as you know, was extremely hot and still. (A breeze developed later on but the afternoon was wickedly hot.) We had media events, autograph sessions, and lots of hurry-up-and-wait during which times I strolled around and took photos to upload on Delaware’s Facebook page. I even bought a Delaware hat, a pink one, a long overdue purchase and I think kept my head’s contents from boiling out of my ears. Standing at a concession ordering water, a toonie went rogue out of my fingers and flew through the air before landing on the side of my arm and sticking to it! The concession workers laughed in amazement. Magician Peter Mennie would have been impressed. It was indeed oppressively hot.
The race was very exciting. To see some of the best in the world racing on your own little home track, with thousands of fans cheering, well, it’s big fun. After writing my recap and sending out results I arrived home about 1 am, weary and ready to put my sweat slicked body to bed. When I flicked on the bathroom light something appeared to be amiss but I didn’t know what. Then I looked up. A spider had obviously given birth to a litter – no a herd – no a community of babies and they were all crawling above me. Well, not all of them. Some were suspended on varying lengths of web. They were so tiny and moved so quickly I was temporarily paralyzed for fear of running into a rapelling spider baby and ending up with it on my skin. I would never find it again!
So at 1 am, having worked all day in a stifling hot observation tower, I climbed a stool and began squishing newborn spiders. I stopped counting at 20. They were small and grey and looked a lot like teeny bits of dryer lint, only quicker. No sooner did I think, Hmm, I wonder where Mama is, and she appeared. I sent her off to join her babies. I found one more this morning and I’m on alert for others still with no idea where the disgusting little nest is. Spiders are definitely on my “dislike” list so I’ll admit that I made some gutteral noises and may have said “take that” and a few unladylike words as I carried out the midnight massacre. Then I slipped into a dreamless sleep, unburdened by my acts of unkindness toward the eight-legged creatures. I just hope they aren’t part of a new spider housing development that’s been erected in my loo without my permission. As soon as the heat lets up I’m going on a mission to find some spider-be-gone spray. These late-night surprises have got to stop!