Growing up in Washington, black widow spiders were something exotic from far away lands. Then I moved to California and started finding them in place I did not want.
I can still remember seeing my first one when we lived in Orange. It got my heart racing with an instant shot of adrenaline because of my vast ignorance and the overhype in society for this creature.
I went back inside (thank God it was outside) and started searching the internet to make sure it really was a black widow. That hour glass is really hard to confuse. I also read that for someone like me, a healthy adult, it wasn’t very likely it would kill me instantly in seconds like they do in the movies.
I still don’t like them and they are one of the few spiders I kill, because we have a small dog who would likely die from a bite.
And they still get my heart racing (a bit slower than that first time) when I encounter the critters unexpectedly.
