Random Girl Strikes Again

All things wise and wonderful... and some really dumb... and mostly random

Friday, September 19, 2003

Yeah, I'm afraid of the dark. You wanna make sumpin' of it??

I can't deny it. I'm 26 years old and still afraid of the dark. Well, not so much the dark itself, but the things hiding in it. Things that are ususally a figment of my imagination, but seem real enough to make me still run down the hall at night like the hounds from hell are nipping at my heels. I do indeed sleep with a nightlight, though I can say now that I can get up to take care of the babies without stubbing my toes. You know, in case anyone who thinks like a rational adult happens to see it and ask.

I suppose my problem started when I was very little. To begin with, I have a very active imagination. While it is a great help in my career as a teacher and as a mother, I have been the victim of it more times than I can count once night has fallen. When we moved to the house I am staying at now I was about four years old. It was after a neighbor kid burned down our house, so we had no furniture or anything to speak of. So to keep us entertained in this big empty house, my dad would turn off the lights and go hide. Our job was to then go find him. Talk about screaming! I'm surprised no one ever called the police to come find out who was being bludgeoned to death. I still can't walk down the hall in the dark. My mom used to babysit a little fella and my dad was playing the same lovely game with him. He asked me to help him find my dad, so I picked him up and started to walk down the dark hall. After about 3 seconds, my irrational mind kicked in and I bolted back the way I came. I also realized that should my dad happen to jump out at us, I would probably throw the kid at him and run to save myself. I know.... pathetic.

The reason I bring up this topic is that my folks are gone for about a week. They bought a big ass RV and are off on their maiden voyage to the central coast. After staying the past two nights down in LA with 7, the kids and I are here alone. I don't mind it so much during the day, but nights get to me. I realize I have to be brave since I am the adult now. I have to set a good example for Oliver, who has been having his own issues with scary things lately. I do believe his problem is also an overactive imagination. He was scared horses were going to come into a restaurant patio area and eat his food and him the other day. He actually worked himself up to tears.

So we're here alone and my folks will just have to deal with the electric bill being a little higher this month since I plan to leave every light in the place on all night!

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