You may or may not have guessed this about me, but I am a big fat scaredy-cat.
I have many irrational, ridiculous fears. Most folks know I'm afraid of water. Well, really I'm afraid of drowning. That fear is kind of understandable I think, given how many times I've had to be pulled, gasping, out of the water when it tried to kill me. Yes, the water actively tried to kill me. You cannot convince me otherwise.
I'm also afraid of spiders. Fewer people know about that one. On more than one occasion, I've gone cruising up a climbing route on lead only to stop in a frozen panic because there is a spider in my way. Silly right? I mean, there I am clinging to rocks by my finger tips, tens of feet up in the air, and the thing that scares me is a spider - not the possibility of falling. Not that I'm not afraid of falling - that one gets me worked up more often than I'd like as well. But it's not nearly as freaky as coming across a spider. And really, I think the falling-fear is a little more understandable since I have fallen before and ended up in crutches for a month. But I've never been bitten by a poisonous spider. Silliness.
So what's got me writing about funny fears today?
Well, I had to go to the dentist yesterday. Do you remember those stupid commericals for dental insurance where the weird looking lady is sitting in the dark at the dentist office and confesses her dental fears - "It's not the drill - it's the bill!" Remember? Well, I'm not her. I do fear the drill. Much more than the bill. Just the sound of the drill in another room will get my heart pounding, my underarms sweating, and my vision narrowing. I really fear going to the dentist.
It's not rational really. I've had a fabulous dentist the vast majority of my years. The folks at Palmetto Dental Associates are pretty much my heroes - if they hadn't been so fabulous, I would have never gone. In fact, since I've moved away and can't see them anymore, I haven't gone back to the dentist at all. Until yesterday.
Ugh.
What could drag me into see a dentist despite all my irrational fears? Nothing less than a broken filling... which still only got me there after a month of procrastination. And now that I've finally gone in, what two words do you think they told me to strike complete and total fear into my heart?
Root canal.
Blerg.
So, make me feel a little less stupid and share - what are your irrational fears? Have you ever had a root canal? Want to come be my personal assistant and kill every spider I come across?
Susan,
ReplyDeleteI can identify with your fear of the dentist. Mine is a very nice lady that does everything to make you feel more at ease. I just can't get over the childhood feeling and smell of the "drill".
I am supposed to be the big naturalist around and fear nothing outside. Spiders are okay. Snakes however, are a different story. I know that others have a similar fear but I'm supposed to be the one that will go over and show everyone else how unafraid I am, pick up the snake for everyone to see, and such. I just can't do it so I opt for the "Let's just look at the snake from a distance. We don't want to disturb it."
My aunt and I were talking the other day about the house in which they grew up. It was in Birmingham and a very nice house but there was this attic door next to the stairwell where there were definitely boogy men living. I would run by the door so that I could outrun those chasing me from the attic door. She felt the same way and her bedroom growing up was just past the boogyman door. :-)
Take care and good luck with the root canal.
Bob