Fear was part of growing up in my generation

quicksand, Bermuda triangle, swallowing gum, tainted Tylenol, glass and razor blades and Halloween candy getting locked inside a refrigerator, cramping up after swimming too soon after eating and drowning as a result, going blind because you’re sitting too close to the television, great white sharks, especially if they’re named jaws, killer, bees, swallowing a watermelon seed or any seed and having it grow inside catching on fire that’s why we learned how to stop dropping and roll, acid rain, getting struck by lightning, Bigfoot, pop, rocks and soda, Slee stacks, snakes, a stranger, with a chloroform, soaked drag, rabies, spontaneous combustion, forest fires, cooties, stepping on a crack ( not wanting to break our Mom back) getting blinded by the sun, skin cancer getting blinded by the sun, skin cancer, getting caught, going deaf by listening to music too loudly, going to hell, killer, bees, spiders, the metric system, flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz, hot lava, lockjaw, amnesia, tapeworms, acid, rain, being kidnapped, piranhas, the monster under the bed, bombs, downed powerlines, getting caught, getting grounded, sparklers…….

6 months ago