Irrational Fears

Have you ever been deathly afraid of something that you know doesn't have any business scaring you at all? I'm talking about fears that just don't make much sense. They could be certain circumstances or objects or sounds that send shivers down your spine. Your heart rate quickens and your senses are hightened and all that adrenaline is stemming from completely irrational fears.

Of course all of my fears are completely rational and built upon legitimate concerns. For example, I fear a broken neck so I don't let anyone come close to even touching my neck. This way no harm can accidently befall me. Consider the consequences of a broken neck and you'll have to agree, it's something to watch out for. Others have tried to claim that this fear falls in the irrational realm and have attempted to cure me with touch therapy. Their approach was to wrap their hands around my neck like they were strangling me until I got over my fears. This brings me to my second and third fears: strangulation and incompetent therapists.

Rounding out the list of completely logical fears would be spiders (I was too young when I saw the movie Arachnophobia), snakes, and chinchillas. Look at this freaky little thing! What is it? Is it a squirrel? A mouse? A Rabbit? Make up your mind! Look at those beady little eyes. I think he wants to bite my neck...

Though my fears all make sense, my wife is stricken by some unhealthy and illogical fears. Andrea has a habit of locking her car door everytime we find ourselves along side a shady looking character in the lane next to us. This sounds innocent enough but what if I told you that she does it when we're driving at 45 miles per hour?!? Apparently, in her mind, this dangerous hombre might possibly jump out of the car that he is driving and onto our car where he could open her unlocked door, swing inside, and do all sorts of terrible things to us. So, the danger is eliminated by locking her door as soon as she sees his car. I don't let her watch movies any more.

Andrea's locked car door has always been a source of great entertainment and fun for me but today, she provided new ammunition. Because it was warm today, we had our front door open so that the sun could shine through our glass storm door. At one point, we began hearing a strange sound that Andrea described as two birds fighting. When she tracked the sound to its originating point, she discovered that a young bird was trying to get into our house. It kept jumping and fluttering at our glass door but was obviously getting nowhere. It was quite a sight and I couldn't help but laugh at the harmless little creature. Andrea, on the other hand, locked the door!!!! I couldn't help but laugh at my frightened little wife and her irrational fears!