Yes. Spider Woman.

Some friends and I decided to dress up for Halloween at work. I wouldn’t reveal my costume to my co-workers, but as a “teaser,” I draped my office door in webbing and dangling spiders, as well as the front of my desk.

The “seed” for my costume was the hairnet (worn on the face) with spider inside that I talked my little sister into wearing many years ago for Halloween at elementary school.

For my costume, I added several additional adornments: more spiders inside the face net, some dangling on threads below my chin, and two speared on safety pins and inserted in my pierced ears. (I originated the safety pin earrings before the punks thought of it. When I was a waitress at Holiday Inn during the late 1970s, I wanted “new” silver earrings and wore safety pins. They became a conversation piece that generated good tips that night!)

A giant spider nestled lovingly on my left shoulder, draped in spider webs with tendrils wrapped around the fingers of my right hand. I darkened my hair with stiff spikes and also draped it with webbing. It was fun to make up my face in dramatic eyeliner and hollow-shadowed facial features. Even the false eyelashes felt like tiny spiders perching on my eyelids. Black shirt, feather boa, swishy red & black skirts, and tall black boots finished the attire.

The appropriateness of this costume was manifested on Wednesday, two days before I wore it. While I was speaking at lunch during a meeting, the woman seated next to me reached up to brush away a spider that was creepy-crawling its way across my shoulder. The same afternoon, while I was driving down the road in my car, a spider on a thread dropped down near my head and I had to bat it away.

I’ve never been fond of spiders, but they seem to be drawn to me.