My Mother Will Never Believe This

Today my mentor teacher brought a bug expert in to talk to the kids. In addition to a couple of hissing cockroaches and several display cases full of crazy insects, Dr. Ed Becker introduced us to Carmen, his pet tarantula.

Of course, I hate spiders. And this feeling wasn't helped by the recent discovery of two black widows within veritable spitting distance of my house. But after watching several 11 year-old kids playing with Carmen, and also noting how conspicuously non-biting the huge arachnid seemed to be, I agreed to let her walk across my hand.

Surprisingly, there was very little loss of bladder and/or bowel control associated with this experience.