Tuesday, November 18, 2008

When You Were Just a Young Girl and Still in School

Here's a photo of a weird 70's looking building where the Cambus stops by the Rec Building. Of course, this photo has nothing to do with my post.

I have been a bad sleeper lately. So, tonight I'm working extra special hard at getting my ass in bed at a decent hour. Hopefully, tonight I won't get a drunken text sent out to everyone on his phone by my friend C. letting us know he's coming to town on Thursday night, like I did last night at one in the morning. Jaysus, Mary and Joseph. Oh yeah, so in the interest of an earlier bedtime, I'm posting another thing from my old blog. It's kind of a companion piece to my list of cheesy 70's music from last night. There is one little change I will add to it, I've had some nightmares in the last couple of years since I wrote this.

This was originally written in April of 2006:

When I was a kid I was terrified of everything. At an early age, I was scared of the Wizard of Oz (especially that one scene - you know, where Auntie Em turns into the witch in the crystal ball?). Then I was afraid of the Vietnam war. After a while, my mom wouldn't let me watch the news because it freaked me out so much. They kept showing little kids all bloody and crying. I also thought that every clock I heard was a ticking bomb.

Then when I was about 7 or so, The Exorcist came out. Everything about it terrified me. The commercials were torture and the soundtrack...Oh my god, Tubular Bells made me want to buy a new umbilical chord and reattach myself to my mother. For years after, I had horrible nightmares about the devil. They were always the same. In my dream, I would be possessed by the devil and then realize I was in a dream and think I woke up, but I was really still asleep and then satan would hold me down and cover my mouth so no one could hear me scream.

It was partly my fear and partly my hyper-spazziness (I'm pretending this is a word), that kept me from sleeping when I was younger. I would lie in my room and hear my mom out in the living room either painting and listening to music or too tired to do anything but stare at the TV. As long as she was awake, I was fine. After she went to sleep, then Linda Blair, the Viet Cong and satan could all get at me. Most nights I would be so scared, I'd end up sleeping in my mom's room anyway.

In college I finally saw The Exorcist for the first time and I did think it was scary. But then I watched the second one and it was so cheesy and laughable that it took some power away from the original. Plus, the fact that Linda Blair dated both Rick Springfield and Rick James made me feel more sorry for her than frightened of her (it also steered me away from dating anyone named Rick).

Even as an adult, I still had the scary devil dreams. They were almost exactly the same ones I had when I was eight. Then when I was 31, I got divorced and became a single parent. I was always the last one awake in the house after that, but somewhere in there I stopped having nightmares. I can't even remember the last time I had one. I'm not sure what changed, but I'm totally cured of them. I'm still frightened of things - right now, the tornado sirens are my biggest fear...I'm also ascairt of boys, but unfortunately, none of them have kept me up all night for a long time.

9 comments:

Mrs. Hairy Woman said...

Nothing worse than getting those darn drunk texts in the middle of the night..

Susan said...

...nothing worse than boys not keeping you up all night long.

booda baby said...

:( All the good comments have already been taken. :) That's one long spell of sleep deprivation. I don't understand you people who dream and so, nightmares really make no sense to me. I had dreams once, but they were the very very best and loaded with magic.

And then they stopped.

Poptart said...

I wish I kept track of my dreams, or remembered anything. I have totally vivid ones that just meld with my normal memory, i think, which is a mishmash of stuff, nothing specific. I did have nightmares as a kid, though, of my whole family turning into monsters, including me. It was horrifying. I had that a lot. And when I have a fever I still have these creepy dripping red meat nighmares like I am looking at a wall of slaughterhouse meat. I think that was why I was a vegetarian for so long.

laura b. said...

I had similar fears and sleep problems when I was a child. I think it must have been during my teens that I somehow evolved into the champion sleeper that I am to this day.

rel said...

churlita,
Glad your scary dreams have dissapated.
I'm a little ascairt of girls, but mostly I'm allergic to them. I swell up when I get around them.
rel

Anonymous said...

I used to get nightmares from horror movies for a while. Then I grew up and became a big fan of horror movies.

Tara said...

I told my family to talk loud and laugh alot one night when I was really young and had to go to bed. Their voices were a comfort. It was scary going up to my room all by myself, and plus we had a creepy attic that I was sure was a haven for ghosts.

Churlita said...

Mrs.,

I know it. I don't text them when I'm getting up for work at 7 am.

Susan,

I know that too. That is something I don't mind losing sleep for.

Booda Baby,

Sometimes I still have amazingly wonderful dreams that make up for the bad ones. I can't imagine not dreaming.

Poptart,

At first I thought you meant the band Red Meat, but then I figured it out and now I'm really grossed-out.

LauraB.,

Man, I'd love to be a champion sleeper.

Rel,

Ha ha. You are so funny.

AliencG,

Nothing like facing your fears with those movies...

Tara,

That creepy attic sounds really scary. I'd probably have to have two radios on with that above me.