Friday, July 5, 2013

Little Girl Fears



When I was a little girl, I was afraid of all sorts of things- especially thunderstorms.  I had been through a pretty traumatic stretch in life after my mother died and we all moved to Maine.  I guess that resulted in some insecurity and fears.

One fear that I remember is that I did not want to talk to men (oh, how that changed!).  I went to live with my Uncle Herky and Aunt Ginny.  I did NOT want to talk to Unk and I especially did not want him to talk to me.  Being a great teacher and Scout leader, this did not phase him.  He used a cookie monster hand puppet and made that little four year old laugh.  Over the years he changed from Unk to Dad and I still have a stuffed cookie monster in my bedroom to remind me of how lucky I was to adopt such fantastic parents.

Another fear that I had was of thunderstorms.  In Maine they seem to track down the rivers, so you knew they were coming for a long time.  We lived on 180 Madison Avenue in Skowhegan and we had a great screen porch on the side of the house.  Whenever a thunderstorm was approaching, Unk would make ice cream cones and we would sit out on the porch and eat them.  I was terrified at first, but I loved ice cream and I loved talking by then, and I gradually overcame my fear.  I still think about angels bowling and hitting strikes when I hear thunder.

These days I enjoy a good thunderstorm.  I love the power and majesty of nature and the sense that everything is cyclical.  Rather than making me nervous, I feel a profound sense of calm.

All thanks to my Dad.

1 comment:

Joan said...

I still hide in the basement when lightening is around. When I was about 5, lightening came down the chimney, through the stove and into our kitchen. I can only remember it very slightly but it still scares me.