Although I try not to give my fears a front seat when it comes to living my life, I'm afraid of lots of things: I'm afraid for my kids. I'm afraid of cancer. I'm afraid of flying. I'm afraid of spiders. I'm afraid of car accidents. I'm afraid of what we're doing to the environment. I'm afraid of collapsing financial systems. I'm afraid my money will vanish mysteriously or be stolen. I'm afraid I'll someone will hide drugs in my luggage and I'll live out my life in a 3rd world prison. I'm afraid of wrinkles. I'm afraid of depending on other people. I'm afraid of losing my passport. I'm afraid I'll be the first person to get AIDS from a mosquito. I'm afraid of running out of coffee. I'm afraid of scary movies. I'm afraid of legal documents.
So, the usual things.
Just for the record, I'm NOT afraid of snakes, rodents, cockroaches, crazy deadlines, math, bitchy women, people who yell, being laughed at or standing up in front of hundreds of people. And I can drive a stick shift.
Ralf isn't afraid of too many things. Why should he be? He has a strong physical presence, a military haircut, loads of boyish charm and no shortage of self-confidence. He's also a rescue diver, which means he doesn't require immediate access to oxygen to survive under water and won't freak out if he temporarily doesn't have any. Plus he thinks people are basically good - even when they prove otherwise he assumes they're stupid rather than evil and would definitely do the right thing if they weren't handicapped by their inferior brains. Basically, even if Scheisse happens, he's not expecting the world to throw him any curve balls he can't handle.
It must be nice to live in his world.
There is one thing he does fear, however, one thing that causes him to pale and break out in a nervous sweat:
Legal documents that need to be countersigned by me.
Yup. I can't blame him, really. It can get pretty darn scary when I need to sign something.
What are you afraid of?
April 23, 2010
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I don't know if there is enough bandwith for my list so, I'll give a few of the highlights: mice, heights, long bridges, car accidents and breaking my front teeth!
ReplyDeleteBefore I had my daughter, the thing I feared most my entire life was losing my little brother. That happened out of the blue when he was 32 and at that time, I thought there was no other blow that could hit me as hard no matter what happened to me.
ReplyDeleteNow I have a daughter and yes, losing her would be my biggest fear now.
Right now, my biggest fear is that my country will get worse and I will be unable to get my little boys out to live a better future somewhere else. Its not easy to leave ones country or family and even more difficult to start a new life somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid of the way we are treating the world - what kind of planet will we be handing over to our kids? Oh, and I'm afraid of running out of loo paper, chocolate and coffee!
ReplyDeleteI have anxiety. My husband doesn't, either. People who experience it just don't understand. I wish I didn't worry, either.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid of everything. I wrote a post about it:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.unknownmami.com/2009/08/what-am-i-afraid-of-uh-everything.html
Heights, dismemberment, hungry bears.
ReplyDeleteYIKES!
Ah, the old legal document phobia. I know it well.
ReplyDeleteGrasshoppers and roaches are my major (and I do mean major) phobias.
The easy answer is: I'm afraid of clowns and heights (especially heights over water).
ReplyDeleteI have other deep-rooted fears that I don't really like to talk about, in addition to those fears I think everyone has (like losing a loved one, or being diagnosed with a terminal disease).
Afraid of the possibility that nothing exists beyond this life, that we are simply masses of flesh and bone with no higher purpose, whose time on earth will pass by all too quickly, only ultimately to vanish unnoticed into the abyss of time.
ReplyDeleteThat and bees.
Geez Solipsist, that was kind of gloomy.
ReplyDeletewhat am i scared of? Crap, I'd take up the whole comment thing here. Pretty much everything, except my shadow in the daylight!
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely afraid of car accidents, not death, but the pain involved with death, bugs, being restrained, and public speaking.
ReplyDeleteEeek. Can just say ditto with a side of the Dentist. Shiver!
ReplyDeleteI AM afraid of bitchy women and math.
ReplyDeleteBitchy calculus teachers make my pee myself.
The unknown
ReplyDeletexoxo
SC
Losing my kids is probably tippy top. I'm scared to even think about being afraid of it.
ReplyDeleteHeights are tough. Sometimes sharks when I'm swimming in the ocean. Those long-legged house centipedes-puke!. Sometimes the dark, or rather, yucky, scary things *in* the dark. Forgetting something important and disappointing someone.
Drowning, dying in a fire, and public nudity. Oh, and a whole host of other stupid things.
ReplyDeleteRoaches, dying and my children not having me as a mother, failing my children by not teaching them enough or the right thing (we homeschool) and never having another child.
ReplyDelete