September 13, 2009

Irrational....

Have you ever had an irrational fear? I tell my kids all the time there are no such things as: monsters in the closet, ghosts under the bed, or zucchini in the muffins. Those are things not to fear, but I have been dealing with claustrophobia since I turned 32. Maybe it had been there longer than that but the first time I ever noticed it was on the submarine ride at Disney.

My then 10 year old DD and I went on her 10 year old trip and she wanted to ride the newly opened and very popular Nemo submarine ride. So it was the end of the evening and the line wasn't too long so we decided to go on it. We got on and toured the under land attraction and then were preparing to ascend. No big deal, but we stopped....underwater, there was some sort of submarine traffic ahead. The college girl running the ride kept making underwater stop light jokes remarks and I started getting cold sweats. My mind kept racing about how I didn't like this and I wanted off RIGHT THIS MINUTE; however, my daughter and about 15 other nearby children kept me from losing it and trying to remain composed.

The little girl and her mother sitting next to me were having this wonderfully entertaining conversation that WASN'T helping:

girl: So are we really underwater
girl's mom: yep
girl: so we are waiting underwater and if I opened this window water would pour in
girl's mom: yep
girl's brother: in WWII some poor soldiers died like that
girl: really, Mom is that true?
girl's mom: yep

At this point I had my forehead pressed to the 12 in porthole that had been Disney's view for my underwater attraction and I was praying for dear life to keep my composure and not grab the college girls leg and beg to be let off. Finally we did ascend and once on dry ground I was much better and was berating myself for How Silly I Was.

Fast forward a year and I found myself in another situation. I visited my sweet sister in law and nephews in Fort Worth. It was summer on a Monday and it was hot and sticky so we all decided to go to a play place in a church building (we could never attend a place like that - we would never worship - we would all be playing in the foyer ) to beat the heat. So we go and the cousins are playing and auntie and I are sitting and I told her I would be right back I just needed to go to the bathroom. She said no problem, pointed me in the right direction and off I went.

Then dear auntie waited and waited and waited. I did not come right back and she just didn't know what to do. She thought it is NOT POLITE to go into a bathroom and say ARE YOU DONE? Our family has been known to have a stomach issue or two (well the men have)...Plus she was watching the kids and she didn't know if she should bring them all down and take them with her, she also knew that I had been sick and was dizzy the day before....OK she decided to give me 5 more minutes then she was coming to investigate.....

In the meantime in the bathroom, I would have said, "5 minutes NOTHING COME LET ME OUT!" I would have said that if I could, but I couldn't, because I was locked in the bathroom.

Give you a second to digest that....


In one of those HUGE MEGA CHURCH bathrooms!


The kind that was granite inside so when you screamed it just echoed right back at you! (Ask me how I know that!)

The kind with the 20 inch thick doors that laugh at you when you pound on them to let someone know to LET you out!

So you can just imagine my state of mind. I went to the bathroom, washed my hands, turned the handle to leave and NOTHING. No budge, no nothing

Want to know what happened next...... part 2 tomorrow.....

3 comments:

Sally P-G said...

I heard this story the other day :):):), too funny but not for you I am sure :(. Maybe all those years of close quarters is finally sinking in and your body is creating claustrophobia as a way to tell you that you need space??? Something to think about :)

Chad and Rebecca said...

Oh! Good Sally!! I do not struggle with this but my mother-in-law and husband do. I do feel a little of it is mind over matter. You have to tell yourself that it is ok! I have had the same scary feeling on a sub. in Mexico. The lady came on and said once we went down, "It is too late if you need to go to the bathroom now." I got so nervous for a second but I talked myself out of it.

Shannon said...

I know, I know what happens...don't worry I wont ruin the rest of the story. I will say, though, that I'm glad that you were able to figure out how to dial into the internet in the bathroom :)

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