Feeling lucky?

On Friday, February 13, 1970 when I was in the sixth grade, I fell --actually I was pushed by a playground bully-- backwards, landing on my hands and breaking my right wrist.  This happened during our third recess of the day, right before the Valentine's Day party where we would be drinking soda, eating cupcakes, and exchanging Valentines.  Ever since, I have been a little uneasy about Friday the 13th.  Yet, today, I am going to fly in the face of fear and actually get out and drive on road that could possibly have snow on them.  My goal is that this will not be my last blog.

Seriously, though, how many of us have irrational fears of common things.  Most people will not suffer a spider or a snake to live.  Honestly, most of both species -- at least here in America are harmless AND often times very beautiful.  Look at a spider's web glistening with dew in the morning sunrise.  Wow, how beautiful is that.  Have you ever actually studied the way a snake moves?  It's fascinating.  Mostly, I don't mind snakes.  Spiders, as long as they are not in my house, also don't bother me.  I came home from a night class once, though, and my family had gone to bed.  When I kicked my shoes off -- in the dark, I might add -- and walked into the living room, I flipped on my life, and there not more than three inches from my bare feet was a -- I think they call them wolf spiders, harmless, but huge -- and before I could stop myself I grabbed the nearest heavy object and squished it.  Honestly, it wasn't hurting anything.  It was probably just as scared of me when I turned on the light as I was of him.

The one species of insect that has always given me the shivers is the wasp and all of its cousins such as bumblebees, hornets, yellow jackets, dirt dobbers.  My earliest memory is being stung on top of the head by a wasp.  I hate the way they get in the house and they dart around.  When they hit windows or the ceiling, they make that "ticking" sound that makes me a quivering mass of Jello.  My wife and my daughter generally have to dispose of this species of insect because I can't stand them.  My fear for them is irrational.

There's a scene in Shining by Stephen King where the boy finds a supposedly empty hornet's nest and he takes it into his room as a souvenir.  He awakens in the middle of the night only to find hornets buzzing all over his room.  That scene terrified me.  I read it a few months before I got married after my wife and I had found the house we were going to live in.  I moved in early and lived there by myself for a few months. Let me tell you; I had to quit reading the book I was so terrified.

Well, I have some running to do today, and I need to finish getting ready.  I will maybe write later.