I have a class pet in my classroom. OK, “pet” is a pretty strong word. This is not something that I asked to come into the classroom, brought to the classroom, or even wanted in the classroom. This is a spider. Anybody who knows me at all will know that I despise spiders. They are something that came straight out of a hell hole, and I cannot stand them the least bit.

You might ask how I have a pet that is a spider. Well, it happened like this.

Someone gave me a box of books that I didn’t use quick enough, and a spider decided to move into the box of books. This happened before the start of the school year. As any teacher knows, the beginning of the school year is kind of a chaotic mess at best. I saw the spider in the box of books, but I honestly did not have the time, energy, or courage to confront the spider so I left it in the box. I closed up the box and pushed it under a table. These were not books that I needed right away, so I figured the spider would eventually come out or I would get some child to kill it for me. Long story short, the box was forgotten for a long time.

One day as I was standing in the hallway during passing time, I saw a large spider crawling along the wall. I named him Herman and told the kids that it was a spider that had been living in our box. It made total sense to me. What is the likelihood that there would be more than one spider in a huge building made to house 2400 students? You might question my logic, but I prefer to think there were not millions of these dastardly creatures hiding in the shadows all over. The spider in the hall that I had named lovingly with lots of hatred Herman, was promptly killed by children. I have found that I don’t really have to be that brave around junior high boys. They are more than willing and able to step in and kill things for me. Thank goodness I only hate spiders.

Fast forward to now. I am not at semester break. The box of books is still in my classroom. Of course, I assume that the spider is gone. As I moved the box of books out from under the table finally, I took a quick peek inside. There was a bit of debris in the bottom…some trash of some kind. I ALMOST stuck my hand in the box to flip through a book and I noticed the ‘cobwebs’ on the side of the box.

Okay, call me crazy, but I always thought ‘cobwebs’ were just dust and such that had somehow formed themselves into fibers that would stretch across openings. I didn’t think they were really webs… What the heck! All those movies where people brush cobwebs aside and move through them…are they really walking through spiderwebs? Did they walk through them and continue on to an insane asylum to live out the rest of their days? I can’t even..

I decided that I really didn’t need these books after all. Apparently, there was a full-on community of spiders in my room and they had set this box up as a sort of meeting place or hang-out joint. Maybe they have potlucks and they each bring a different insect to share while they play many hands of poker on Friday nights after the students are all gone for the weekend.

Needless to say, I closed up the box and moved it to the area where the trash was collected. I didn’t say anything about trash while I was in my room. I didn’t want to alert the critters in case they would relocate.

I did make sure to find our custodian and tell him to please have all the boxes by my door taken to the farthest trash dumpster in the city. Do spiders have the homing signal thing like the dogs do in Homeward Bound? I’m praying they don’t and that they find a better home or death. My custodian is a cool guy. I only insulted him once so we are pretty good friends (that’s another story).

As I was driving home, I started to think about the box with a spider in the books. Something that I absolutely love, books, and something that I absolutely hate, spiders. I thought about how I was willing to get rid of so many books because of one little creature that I hated. I wondered if I could find a life lesson in this and started thinking about things that I avoid doing or being or saying because one little part of it is undesirable. I’m sure dating somehow fits into this category. I’m not fond of facial hair, so I usually skip over single profiles that feature hairy guys. I’m also a pretty tall girl, so I usually skim over profiles of guys that are shorter than me.

That being said, I think it could be a good thing to avoid things that I like because there is a little bit of that in it. I avoid movies that seem pretty interesting and I would normally like to see when I hear that there is a nudity scene or that it’s rated R. I think this serves me well because I have avoided things that can potentially scar my little brain and hurt my soul.

I guess it comes down to really seeing how bad the thing is and how good the other thing is. In conclusion, I think that avoiding good movies that are rated R because there is something really bad in them and getting rid of big boxes of really good books because there is a creepy spider in them are probably really good life choices.

What are some things that you might avoid just because there’s a small piece you don’t like? Am I the only one that does this?

Regardless, I am not getting any more class pets this year. Especially the kind with too many legs.

Cause I said so.