The Fear
We all have our fears. Sometimes they drive us, sometimes they can hinder us. They start sometimes as the thunder outside the window as a small child and sometimes when we are grown, we don’t even know why we have the fear, we just know it’s there.
I came across my biggest fear two weeks ago when I ran into one of my neighbors who told me she had seen a big snake on her patio and her son had pushed him off towards our patio.
Thanks I thought to myself. The one thing I am extremely afraid of and cannot even put into words is SNAKES.
Then the next night as I am walking the dog, my daughter and I came upon my other neighbor who lives on the other side of us.
She said, Wow, did you hear us screaming? There was a big black snake on our patio and I had to have my husband remove it and throw it in the sewer.”
Now I was scared to death after two snake sightings. I didn’t even want to walk my dog, so we quickly went home to start our normal routine of getting ready for bed and bath time. My daughter questioned why I had gotten so scared when talking to the neighbors. I couldn’t really explain what my fear was about. I remember seeing a snake as a child, but it didn’t hurt me and my father had told me not to be bothered about it, but the fear was real and it was still very present.
I reminded my daughter of an event that happened when she was very little. The wind was blowing through the eves of our ductwork in our house. It actually sounded like a ghost saying boooooooo. It really sounded like a soundtrack playing or something. It was funny once we realized that the wind was blowing through the drain pipes, but for a moment, I have to say that even I stepped back listening to the scary sound.
But now the day was finally over and the snake scare was gone and I was ready for bed. As I climbed the staircase to get to my room, light shown into the bathroom from the hallway light and I let out a scream that was probably heard over the entire county.
I flipped on the bathroom light to find NOT my daughters clothes that are normally left on the floor, but her black belt that she had been wearing laying there strategically. It took me a minute to realize what it really was and not a big black snake laying on my bathroom floor.
I have to admit I was still in my fight or flight stage, but then suddenly I became angry realizing that this was a joke that had just gone bad. MEGAN ELIZABETH! I yelled from the bathroom. She definitely heard me, but did not come right away. Finally she appeared in the doorway and I could see on her face that she really did not mean any harm so I tried to gather my senses and explain that this was not funny. No harm had been done, however I could have hurt myself falling backwards down the stairs I had been so scared.
“It’s Not a Snake, not a snake” she kept repeating, trying to convince one of us that she had actually remembered to pick up all of her clothes-all but the black belt. I laughed and just said, ” Next time try to pick up ALL your clothes, please“
