"Like Jell-O with a grudge." LOL. Yes, everything is a documentary when you're a kid. You nailed the mindset. And like your no hanging limbs off habit, it creates so many habits in us that will not die but it also makes us unique. It's all in good fun, until the Jell-O hold a grudge. Fun read, Hieronymus. Thank you for sharing.
I know this problem. I remember in first grade there was an "A is for alligator" in a book of animal ABCs. It didn't particularly bother me at first because I didn't believe it was real. Then, one of the girls, (who continued to be a bully as time went on) explained that it was, too, real and lived under children's beds. Not only that but it was really big and it liked to eat children. Well, that did it. I couldn't sleep at night because I just knew there was an alligator under my bed, waiting to eat me. My father finally asked me what was bothering me. When I told him, he took it very seriously
and told me it didn't live anywhere near us; it couldn't live in cold climates; and it preferred to live in swamps. He promised me an alligator wouldn't get me and I believed him. Unfortunately, that did nothing about the monster tarantula that was in the glass case in the school landing.......
It wasn’t it my childhood, but in my teens I watched a movie, the plot of which is that going into the closet is a bad, bad idea.
I don't watch 'horror' movies anymore. I do love th Geico ad where they say, "Let's go hide behind the chainsaws."
I’ve never been able to sleep with the closet door open since then! And now it’s all coming back. Argh!
Sorry if I helped reopen that wound.
It is amazing how vivid those memories are. The scariest movie I can watch is Jaws.
We saw Jaws jsut a few weeks before going to Myrtle Beach. It ruined the beach for me for decades.
I know! But I love the movie!
"Like Jell-O with a grudge." LOL. Yes, everything is a documentary when you're a kid. You nailed the mindset. And like your no hanging limbs off habit, it creates so many habits in us that will not die but it also makes us unique. It's all in good fun, until the Jell-O hold a grudge. Fun read, Hieronymus. Thank you for sharing.
Parker, thank you! Childhood logic is airtight. If it scared you once, it still lives under the bed. Glad the story gave you a grin!
I know this problem. I remember in first grade there was an "A is for alligator" in a book of animal ABCs. It didn't particularly bother me at first because I didn't believe it was real. Then, one of the girls, (who continued to be a bully as time went on) explained that it was, too, real and lived under children's beds. Not only that but it was really big and it liked to eat children. Well, that did it. I couldn't sleep at night because I just knew there was an alligator under my bed, waiting to eat me. My father finally asked me what was bothering me. When I told him, he took it very seriously
and told me it didn't live anywhere near us; it couldn't live in cold climates; and it preferred to live in swamps. He promised me an alligator wouldn't get me and I believed him. Unfortunately, that did nothing about the monster tarantula that was in the glass case in the school landing.......
Still can’t sleep without a sheet over me, the protective shield from childhood fears.
“Maybe even a little more empathetic to what other people are afraid of.” That’s so poignant.