Jumping spiders and steering wheels—two things that don’t go well together. Yet a few days ago, I found myself in the driver’s seat—staring down a monster jumping spider, who jumped directly in front of me onto my steering wheel. It is quite frankly the biggest jumping spider I have ever met.
Thankfully, I wasn’t on I-35 or anything! I was actually in a packed bumper-to-bumper line at the school pickup circle, unable to pull over or get out of my car because I was in the inside lane.
I hate spiders though, and to make matters worse, I have been bitten by a jumping spider in the past. So there I was, behind the wheel and staring down the spider, trying to remain calm. My daddy and my brother would have been proud of me. I sat there just like a good little mom soldier, not flying out of my car like I would have liked. I reasoned that the spider is really harmless, though I can never forget the sight of the jumping spider that hopped on my leg and bit me many years ago, what a creepy sight and feeling it was!
Finally it hopped up onto my dashboard and ventured under a stack of papers. So there I was hitting my dashboard, trying to beat it to death with a water bottle while sitting in the long line. I’m sure I didn’t look crazy or anything. But then again, I never do
I never did find that jumping spider. Hopefully I won’t ever get the thrill of staring down a jumping spider on my steering wheel again.