Thursday, June 07, 2007

That's My Boy!

My heart skipped a beat the other day - and I imagine its the same skip my mom's heart did when I was a kid. I don't know why, but I have this huge insanely physiological fear of anything critter related ... bugs, rodents, anything that resembles a rodent and even the bigger 'animals' that remind me of rodents (raccoons and such). I've been known to run screaming from the park when a bee flies too close to me (leaving my kids to fend for themselves). Crazy, I know, but I just have this reaction.
Well, my son has either learned it or (I prefer to think) inherited this same fear. Ed and I were chatting in our den the other night while the kids played in the backyard. The backdoor was open, so we could hear them. All of a sudden, Jake comes running toward the house in a DEAD PANIC ... I mean, without witnessing it for yourself, you just can't fully comprehend the scene. Ed and I both ran to the backyard to see - and by this time Jake is in a full-blown-screaming-no-chance-of-a-rational-thought state of mind. He was pointing to his leg, so we started to investigate and as it turned out, yes, there was indeed a bug on his leg. With all the commotion, the bug managed to escape but was promptly stomped for such misbehavior. I'm chuckling as I type this because once we knew what was wrong, I couldn't do anything but laugh. I KNEW this was me in a little boy's body. I felt immediate pangs of guilt for what I must have put my mom through as a kid and for what I might have possibly passed on to my boy (through genetics, of course).

4 comments:

Lori Eilers said...

I can TOTALLY relate. I have this unreasonable fear of grasshoppers thanks to a cousin who thought it would be sooo funny to put a handful of them down my shirt when I was about five years old. Micaela "inherited" this condition also! What can ya do?

Anonymous said...

Oh, Angela, I am just cracking up! I could just imagine.

amain said...

I am thinking maybe we should re-consider the 'Backyard Bugs' exhibit at the Science Center:)

Anonymous said...

You definitely made my heart skip more than once. And not only with bugs, though that was HUGE!! The other even more HUGE event was seeing your own blood!! It didn't have to be a lot, just a pin point was enough to send you into uncontrollable screaming and writhing!!

But you were worth it!! And now it is totally fun to see Jake do this to you!!!

Love,
your mom