Along came a spider...

Living with a phobia can be a very limiting thing. When I was little I would vomit when I would see a spider....yes, that is arachnophobia at its finest. Over the years I have attempted to curb this fear. In the fourth grade I was super brave and actually held a spider. Okay, okay, it was so small that it was difficult to see, but still, I held it! The last few years I was fortunate enough to have roommates who would see the death note I would leave on a post-it note stuck to the jar covering the spider. The roommates usually obliged and took the "hit-money" of 24 cents as they got rid of the body. My luck was holding as I moved in with LG who has also agreed to kill for me. This luck ran out last night...

It was bound to happen eventually, I just never suspected it would go down like this. It was a hot, muggy DC summer night, LG and I went for a run on our favorite loop. After passing the monuments, we made it to the Memorial bridge which is the on the home stretch. We had been on this bridge just days before so I was very comfortable, however, time of day is EVERYTHING. This time it was 9 PM, not 9 AM. MISTAKE.

I brushed against the metal fence as I had done before, but this time I felt that stomach-turning, skin-crawling, hair-like stick that only comes from spider webs. My eyes refocused and I realized that each side of the fence, the entire length of the bridge was covered with THOUSANDS of SPIDERS just waiting and watching!!! (LG even says it was this many so I am not overestimating)

I could only walk to the other end of the long, long bridge. I wish I had not been so paralyzed, I would have run. As the full blown panic attack set in, LG helped me walk in the very center of the path and told me to just look down. I hate to admit, but I was sobbing with fear by the time we were off the bridge. It took me a bit to be able to breath evenly again. LG didn't even make fun of me...and there was plenty to make fun of.

This was definitely the most awful spider experience yet, and I have had so many. I do wish there was a way to find out how this phobia started...maybe in that dark playroom in Roberts, Idaho.

Eldred Lauren Gilbert is 29!

I have to say, I wasn't sure that a man like Lauren existed...not until I met him at his house in December 2007. He had just come home from a date, early I might add, and looked and smelled delicious. His presence filled the room and drew me to him. Truly it was love at first site for me, something that I didn't believe existed.


Now, after nearly a year of having the privilege of being his wife, I continue to see and learn things about him that make me again feel so happy that he is my Eternal Companion.

Lauren is sarcastic, funny, intelligent, driven, sweet, patient, loving, supportive, understanding, somewhat humble, and has dreams that I know he will achieve. He has a passion and zest for life that will take him where he wants to go.




He makes me laugh when I feel like crying and does my papers for me when I do. He scratches my back till I fall asleep and packs my lunch almost every day.

He comes to visit me at the hospital when my hours creep into the time I should be sleeping (please note his medical pose).

He tells me he loves me every day and means it.

Lauren will do things just because it will make me laugh or just to make me happy.

He is a wonderful husband and friend. I am proud of him and respect him. I have seen how much he has grown and accomplished the past year and look forward to getting to know him as we grow together.

So on June 10...just kidding, I know it's actually on June 11 (now), I want him to know that this day is such an important day in my life because it is the day that celebrates the one who IS my life.

~Happy Birthday "G"! I love you.~