Shell

It freaked me out at first, but it's not that big- about the size of a post-it note. Once I realized it wasn't alive, I took a closer look. It's not a spider at all, it's only the molted shell of a spider who is now bigger than it's old skin. Oh right, so that means the big guy is roaming around my house somewhere.

If I've changed at all in my 3 years here, I can definitely say that I've changed to become more tolerant of spiders. I've had to be with fellas like this and bigger sharing my apartment with me in the summer, or smaller ones building webs with one side attached to the driver's seat door of my car. I really noticed my tolerance the other day when a spider had spun its web across the brake on the right side of my bike handlebar. 3 years ago I would have walked instead of riding my bike- out of fear of the spider. I not only rode my bike, but I did so using only the left brake- not out of fear, but because I felt bad destroying the spider's web.

I wonder if I'll see the spider who left this shell and what I'll name him if I do. The way I've come to terms with coexisting with giant spiders is by giving them names and treating them like pets. It's really worked!