So much for desperately, desperately, desperately hoping...

This morning there was a Cane Spider in my office.  The same one from my bedroom the second night—the one missing three legs.  I woke up three hours early for church so I could get some work done… walked into my office… and dashed back into my room, locked the door behind me, and shoved a towel underneath the door (I’ve been sleeping with one there every night.) 

Something surprising about my employer is that he doesn’t have wireless internet.  He himself uses a desktop, and there are internet hookups in a few rooms.  But the jack in my bedroom doesn’t work, so the only place I can get online is in my office.  Once in a great while I can mooch off the neighbors’ wireless, but there house is too far away for it to be a dependable or strong connection. 

So I haven’t been able to get online today, which is a problem, because I have a few hours worth of time-sensitive online work that needs to be done TODAY.  I’ve tried multiple times to just suck it up and work in my office anyway—once with a laundry basket over my head, once with a sheet covering my entire body (if my employer ever looks at the security tapes, he’s probably going to fire me for being a nutcase)—but as soon as I catch a glimpse of the beast, I start freaking out. 

So I decided to do the only logical thing I could think of…

Take a nap. :) 

And when I woke up, deliverance was here in the form of Mark, the landscaper.  I had missed a call from him during my nap, which said something to the effect of “I’m coming out to weed-whack, brought my surfboard to take a dip afterwards, if you’ve got some free time I’ll teach you to surf… I promise we’ll start with baby waves.”  I shot out of bed and found him weed-whacking at the front of the house… I’ve never been so happy to see a person in my life.  He said he’d come kill the spider as soon as he finished weed-whacking… so here I am, in my room with my computer (which I retrieved during the laundry basket escapade), waiting for Mark to come kill the spider.  But the sad news… I can’t go surfing because, now that I’ll be able to be in my office again, I’ll have finish up all that time-sensitive work.  I suppose I’ll have to take a rain check, because surfing is something I DEFINITELY want to try while I’m here!  I doubt I’ll be any good at it, but I would hate myself forever if I came to Hawaii and didn’t even try to surf. 

Anyway.

Despite my intense relief and excitement to discover that Mark was here and could come kill the spider, that moment has a strong competitor for the “Best Part of my Day” award.  When I returned from church and checked my Facebook messages, I found a video, sent by JC, of dozens of people from church back home this morning, all saying hi and that they missed me and giving personalized messages.  It was so touching!!  Sundays are the days I get the most homesick… besides specific people, the thing I miss most about home is—without question—playing with my band on Sunday mornings.  Thanks so much to everyone who said “hi” to me via video… it may seem like a small gesture, but it means so much to me!  And a very, very special thanks to JC, who came up with the idea and spent his Sunday morning executing it… you’re wonderful. :) 

And to close with—good news!!  Mark just took care of the spider!  It took a few minutes of broom-work to get the thing to come out of the corner and out the door onto the patio… and then a good ten seconds of slaughtering.  But what a relief!! :)  Thanks Mark!