Geese and Snakes

Fear was our primary motivator growing up. One of the worst things you could do to my mom, is put her out. That most certainly included getting out of bed at night. I NEVER committed that sin.

When I was pre-school age, my mom hung a framed picture of some geese on the wall near the foot of my bed. She told me that if I got out of bed, those geese would come out of the picture and get me. If the geese didn’t get me, the “night snakes” under my bed would. I was terrified. To this day, it’s the most alone and afraid I’ve ever been. I was deeply terrified, but didn’t have anybody to talk to about it, or to help me. To make it worse, I had to sleep with the door closed and the light off.

Did you ever stare at something in the dark for a long time? After awhile it seems to start moving? Well, the geese in the picture moved every night. I’d have to pull the covers over my head, and roll up into as small a ball as I could. I went to sleep terrified every night. When I finally did fall asleep, I had the most terrible nightmares. They usually involved me being chased by wolves, or me in a room with snakes and geese all around me. No wonder I was so sick all the time.

You know how your kids sometimes come to your bed in the middle of the night, and want to crawl in because they are afraid or spooked? I didn’t have that option. Not only would I have had to make it by the geese and snakes, I’d be sent right back to bed, probably with a bloody lip or worse.

This is giving me freaking chicken skin right now. I can almost feel myself under the covers, shivering with night fright. Deathly afraid of what was in my room (snakes and geese) and equally afraid of what was outside my room (my mother).

You know how some people say things like, “your parents did the best they could” without really knowing the circumstances?

That is such a load of crap.....