My friend Casey, at All I'm Saying just wrote a post about her "encounter" with Bigfoot. She is, understandably, now terrified of bigfoot.
Her story reminded me of why I'm terrified of bears. Growing up in Garden Valley, bears weren't uncommon. Sometimes we would see them right out our back door. We burned our garbage in a big 50 gal. drum outside our little cabin so sometimes the bears would scavenge for any food that may have been in there.
One day, I had just finished riding my horse home from the valley and had taken her to her pasture about 1/4 mile from our house. I was walking down the little dirt road toward home when I heard some crackling in the brush directly in front of me and between the road and the barbed wire fence that ran next to the road. I had been riding bareback so all I was carrying (thankfully) was my bridle. I suddenly heard the most horrendous sound just 15 feet from where I was, but unfortunately, it was also between me and home. BEAR!
I could have turned and run the other direction, but there wasn't any sign of human life until Centerville, so, even though it went against every ounce of adrenaline coursing through my body, I started running toward the terrifying sound. As I passed the tree where the growling was coming from, I swear my feet grew freaking wings. I had never run so fast.
I got home and ran into the house, heart pounding and terrified more than I had ever been. I may have even been crying - those of you who know me, I don't do that. After being in the safety of home for a few minutes, my brother - who I absolutely adored, walked into the house, laughing hysterically.
He told me how funny it had been to watch me beating cheeks as he had hid behind a tree and sounded like a bear. WTF? I didn't leave home by any means other than a car for months. I was scarred for life.
Many years later, my sister Linda and I were in McCall participating in the Antiques Show at Shore Lodge. It was a beautiful evening after the show had closed and we decided to go for a drive up a dirt logging road just to get out of town. I had to pee and so we stopped and got out of the truck. Crouching with my pants down we suddenly heard a HUGE crashing through the brush within 50 feet of where we were. My first thought - BEAR! I pulled up my pants so fast I peed all over the back of them and we jumped in the truck. We listened for a few more minutes from the safety of the truck but couldn't see what was making the noise.
To this very day, thanks to my wonderful brother, I am STILL terrified of bears. Really, does it get more scarey than this...
So what are you scared to death of and what made you that way?
I think it's our BROTHER you should be terrified of, not bears. I can't believe he did that to you. Oh wait, yes I can. What a turd! ;)
ReplyDeleteI'll have to think about what I'm afraid of in that way. Bears are high on the list, for sure.
Steve is in town today and I'll see him while he's here. I'm going to ask him if he even remembers doing that to me. What do you want to bet he doesn't?
ReplyDeleteBears are pretty much at the top of my list. Second only to dinosaurs.
ReplyDeleteLeilani
Leilani, dinasaurs are down the list for me. Not sure why.
ReplyDeleteTell your mama hi for me next time you talk to her!
I am terrified of lightening storms. When I was very young and all through my formative years, my mother would grab me when a storm came up, we'd run to the kitchen, stand in the inner corner of the room , with a towel over our heads and tremble and ohh and squeal in fright. If Mama's afraid , it must be horrible. But, I did not pass that on to my kids. Their Father showed them how fascinating the storms were.
ReplyDeleteHow could Steve remember that when there are SO. MANY. terrible things he traumatized us?? I still refuse to share my bananas with anyone. Or milk.
ReplyDeleteI am sort of unreasonably afraid of spiders. And ferrets and weasels, thanks to YOU.((shiver)). Those things are CREEPY.
Ferrets are cute!!!!
ReplyDeleteOh god, NO THEY AREN'T. I'll never forget "Weasie": the more I'd shriek and dance and try to get away from her, the more excited she got and thought it was fun to chase me and jump on me. I'm traumatized for life, you know.
ReplyDeleteOh my God so is mom! She hated Weezie too. You two are weird.
ReplyDeleteAUGH! I, too, am terrified of bears but I had an honest-to-God real life encounter with a Grizzly Bear. The Grizz didn't hurt me because my dad came out of nowhere, swept me up, and beat my little fanny for being so stupid as to walk up to a garbage-eating grizzly bear. That night, the same bear tore up some concrete-and-steel garbage cans buried in the ground, chained down with logging chains. Just tore the lids off of them. I've been terrified of bears ever since.
ReplyDeleteWell Jaci, when we go out searching for bigfoot someday, we'll have to remember to take bear spray!
ReplyDeleteI'm really curious about the bananas and milk thing now. I also think ferrets are disgusting--they're all dirty and smelly. They're like a cross between a cat and a rat. Eww.
ReplyDeleteGod, I hate Bigfoot. *shudder* Leilani gave me the spider terrors when we were little and they haven't gone away. It never even occurred to me that spiders were scary until she convinced me of it.
Oh Casey, our older brother would ask, all sweetness and light, "Can I have a bite of your banana?" and then he'd cram the entire thing in his mouth. Same with milk. And growing up in a house of 4, that was all you got and if you were fool enough to "share", well, you were SOL.
ReplyDelete