We’re teaching Alli to skip and despite the defective teacher (me) she has, she is surprisingly good. For whatever reason, I’ve never been a great hopper—jumping and bouncing around haven’t ever been super appealing to me. Today, whilst merrily watering the cucumbers in my garden, a teeny tiny garter snake quickly slithered inches from my Chaco exposed toes. I jumped and the height I reached in that air time might have qualified me for the China summer games. I HATE SNAKES. Loathe, despise, abhor, detest…there is nothing I like about them. Two distinct memories vividly flashed in my mind during that Michael Jordan “hang time” in the garden. Once, when I was seven, my mom and sister Rachel were at the cabin in AZ and went creek wading. A very harmless, very unknowing water snake made its way back home via the top of my immersed foot. I vaguely remember learning that snakes have ears and I’m sure he, regrettably, heard my unending screams. That’s the closest I’ve ever come to fainting. The second memory was of a trip to Santa Barbara, CA to learn to surf a couple years ago. In the quaint downtown of that seaside city there are “snake people” hanging out on the street with boxes (really, boxes) full of snakes. They let people see how many they can drape on their bodies and my friends really got into it. I sat on a bench on the street corner, trying to control my breathing. Am I just as abnormal as I’ve always joked I am?***What are some of your phobias?
***Have you had any close encounters with unconsciousness in dealing with them?
PS I had a really hard time putting the picture of the snake up, it creeps me out!
7 comments:
How Indiana Jones of you!
Also, I'm no fan of snakes either. I still haven't recovered from the time I ran into a rattlesnake in the petroglyphs and two days later ran into ANOTHER. *shudder*
Funny that you posted this today. Just last night in fact after getting up with Azure I saw a HUGE spider in the kitchen(the size of a tarantula w/o the hair) and tried to figure out how I could kill it w/o it jumping on me. Before I could even attempt to do anything though it creeped away under the oven. I couldn't go back to sleep for like an hr b/c everytime I closed my eyes all I could see were spiders! I question why there were created at all!
I really, really don't like spiders. Not to say that I LIKE snakes. In fact, several years ago Ryan and I were scuba diving in Hawaii and I swear I came in close proximity to a water snake. I started sucking water through my face mask tube and panic-stricken, swam as fast as I could back to shore. Ryan maintains that it was a log, but I am sure it was a snake. Yuck!
ew ew EWW!! I hate snakes too! But my biggest phobia, and this is weird, but it is HOLES. I absolutely hate holes. It stems from my childhood when I grew up in Iowa. We had a lot of rodents in our backyard, and they would create little tunnels or burrows or whatever you call them. I remember falling in the holes as a kid, so now I am still terrified of holes. And strangely enough, I have projected this fear to ANY type of round shaped opening - the holes on a honeycomb (makes me cringe) and a certain type of frog that lays its eggs in the back of the male frog. THe eggs hatch, and the male is left with, you guessed it, many many HOLES. I am a freak, I know it.
I totally detest unattached hairs. As long as their on my head I have no problem with them, but as soon as they come off of my head I am disgusted by them. I'm not sure if that could be considered a phobia or not, but they really gross me out! I also really hate those mosquito eater bugs. I know they're totally harmless and actually helpful, but they're so big and creepy looking! Eeeek!
Miriam! I also HATE snakes! There is something about them that makes me all grossed out! Anyway! It looks like you haven't been on your blog in a while. What did you do for Nick's birthday?! Do you have some new pictures of Alli! I would love to see them. We need to get together for dinner. Nothing formal just spare of the moment fun stuff. Maybe a picnic or something. Anyway, call me and we can plan a little outing. (4265019) Love you all, Natalie
Miriam! You have a blog-- Can I just tell you how excited I am?! YAY YAY YAY!! I just joined the blogging community a couple months back and I am addicted! It's so fun finding friends and seeing what they're up to.
And I have to say, at least your phobia is something that can really be harmful. I have an irrational, but very real phobia of crickets. I see them and I am paralyzed. I can't even overcome it enough to show my 3-year old that they are harmless. I think I scarred her for life!
PS. would have loved seeing you in Beijing...you're so cute!
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