I’ve written before about some of my fears (see here).

Fears are a funny thing. For the most part they are not grounded in reality. I know that’s not always true, but just take a look at my list of fears:

Fear of heights - I’ve never fallen from a great height nor have I ever been stuck or trapped at a great height.

Fear of bees and wasps - I’ve only knowingly been stung by a wasp once. I’ve been stung by things that I suspected were wasps, but I just didn’t see anything. I’ve never been stung by a bee.

Fear of dogs - I was chased by dogs once when I was around 8 years old. I’ve never been bitten by a dog.

So why am I afraid of those things?

I’ve mentioned before my fear of bees and wasps and yet I am fascinated by them. There are only two things I remember from my childhood that could’ve contributed to my fear. Both happened when I was around 8 years old and living in California.

There was one time when I was walking with my mom down our street and we came to what I affectionately call a “bee bush”. It was one of those bushes that has lots of little flowers on it that bees just love. As we were walking towards the bush, my mom noticed my apprehension.

She did what every good parent does, she lied. She said the classic “If you leave them alone, they will leave you alone” line.

Well, as we got next to the bush, a bee flew out and buzzed my mom. She screamed, swatted and ran.

Lesson learned: Bees are EVIL!

The other time was when we had a yellow jacket nest at the corner of our house. It was not very large, maybe 8 or 10 wasps, but you had to walk near it to get to the back of the house. I don’t know why dad did not kill the nest, but he didnt and I had to walk near the nest each time I went to the back yard.

I remember standing and looking at the nest, debating when I should move. Kind of like the scene in all great war movies where the guy hesitates, then moves only to be blown to bits by a shell that would’ve missed him had he not hesitated.

Now that I think of it, I guess there are more reasons why bees and wasps scare me. I remember watching the movie The Swarm, about swarms of killer bees. All I remember is the scene where the bees are coming in through the air conditioner of the car. Was it a VW Bug? Also, I think they led the swarm into the Astrodome and turned the air conditioning down so they stopped flying about. I don’t know, but I do remember it freaking me out.

I found the trailer. God bless YouTube:

Then there was the time that I was with my Granddad in “The Country” and he warned me about underground yellow jacket nests. Great, they build nests underground as well? Sure do, and he warned me that they will fly up your pant leg and sting you multiple times.

Yeah, that freaked me out as well.

We actually found a nest and late that night my Granddad went out and poured gas into the nest and set it on fire. I can vividly remember the fire.

Ok, so maybe my fear is grounded in some reality…some…

Now my fear of heights? That’s just evil. All I am willing to say is that I’m fine until a little voice whispers “you could fall” or “you could drive off the bridge and into the river”.

0.o

Oh my God! You’re right! Now I’m really freaked out! That’s when I become fearful. It’s probably not the healthiest fear out there.

I’m not sure where that fear came from. I do remember being hysterical in the glass elevator at the Old Post Office Building in Washington, DC and being scared to go up in the fake Eifel Tower at Kings Dominion. That may have been the same trip to Virginia when I was around 8 or 9.

Wow, it seems like 8 year olds are very impressionable.

One day I will kick these silly fears.