2.) Describe a time you felt startled.
In third grade I stared into a mirror in the dark and whispered, “you are evil. you are evil. you are eeeeevillll.” and then OHMYGOD I TOTALLY LOOKED EVIL JUST NOW!!!
In high school my brain convinced myself that if a car passed our house before I made it to the front door I would get shot.
Two things made that little game extremely nerve racking. #1 We lived on a hill, so you could either see or hear cars approaching and listening to them get louder and louder as they came up the hill to SHOOT YOU forced you to race at top speed. #2 You could only open our door by punching in a code and then twisting a top knob before entering. If the wrong code was punched in, or if you didn’t punch the numbers FASTENOUGH…dead. Shot dead.
Before I graduated I finally admitted to my sister that I “give myself a heart attack getting into the house everyday because I have to hurry before…”
And then she finished my sentence, “…BEFORE SOMEONE DRIVES UP PAST THE HOUSE AND SHOOTS YOU!?!?!”
YOU TOO!?!?!
I should have known.
I was talking to a girl who brought a box cutter to bed with her every night starting at the age of ten.
As an adult I still can’t look at a mirror in the dark without hearing that third-grader whispering “You are eeeeevillll” so I try to avoid those. I’m too busy herding slow kids into the house to be concerned about whether or not our neighbor is going to shoot me.
The most startling thing I have to deal with now is the small child who quietly tiptoes into my room and then stands at the edge of my bed STARING AT ME until I somehow sense their creepy presence and nearly pee myself when I open my eyes to find them whispering loudly “CAN I GET IN BED WISS YOU!?!?!”
*Shudders*.
Frelle says
I love that your sister totally had the same fear without you ever talking about it. . great validation you didn’t expect. And I am well aware of the creepy presence of the child who has soundlessly entered the room and the cold sweat shock of waking to a presence, only to find it’s adorable with its lisp and everything. :) Great response to the prompt!
Pamtastic says
How do kids do that??? How do kids who are never, ever quiet, can’t just speak-they must always yell-and never “walk”…they must stomp from point A to point B; ALWAYS manage to sneak into your bedroom in the dark of night with the prowess Tom Cruise and the entire Mission Impossible team would envy and just “stand there”??? It. Is. Creepy.
Mama Kat says
SO creepy!!
Loukia says
I’ve actually screamed when my six year old suddenly appears before me in the middle of the night… what is up with that? That is ridiculously scary, man. Happens ALL the time, too…
summer says
i used to RUN up our stairs from the basement just in case someone was to grab me back down.
maybe we have this issue because we grew up in Washington?
hmmmm….i’ll ask in therapy tomorrow.
Twisted Domestic Goddess says
oh me too me too I used to book it up the stairs from the basement! Same thing I blame growing up in WA lol and I’ll never look into a bathroom mirror without the light being on!
Mama Kat says
Haha! You guys must have had some pretty creepy basements.
Galit Breen says
Hee! Those middle of the night wake ups are totally startling!
Gretchen says
Ack! I know that middle of the night moment well! I wake up and for a second think it’s the scary kid from The Shining saying “Redrum!” but luckily, just before I shriek and attack, I realize that it’s my own precious child. I love that you and your sister had the same freaky game going!
Stacey says
My kids scare the crap out of me on a regular basis. It makes me feel a little bad for scaring the crap out of my own mom in the middle of the night. When I was a kid, I was always scared of the basement. I don’t know why. We didn’t have a particularly scary basement or anything. But now, I give my older kids crap when they take the two year old to the basement to protect them. I assume it’s so they can feed the two year old to the monster then run like hell. Good times.
Peg says
I’ve had weird things like that too. I guess we all have our idiosyncracies!
Angie @ The Little Mumma says
You and your sister? Freaky. I love that.
I discovered I could make a three leaf clover with my tongue by spending endless hours in front of the bathroom mirror…..last week.
Don’t be silly. I’m not allowed to spend endless hours doing anything anymore as decreed by my children. They are dictators and they can not be stopped. But this no longer startles me. I am, simply, resigned.
Simone @Greatfun4kids says
hahaha, shudders indeed!
Hilarious that your sister played the same game as you with the cars ‘n’ shooting. Where on earth did you LIVE?!?!?!
Mama Kat says
In like the safest neighborhood ever. We just watched too much TV apparently.
Brittany says
I’ve done the middle of the night wake up with my mom quite a few times when I was younger! And now, the siblings give me pay back. I can only imagine what it will be like when I’m a parent myself… yikes!
Dianna says
My little game wasn’t quite as involved as yours, but similar. Our house had a huge front yard (out in the country) on a busy highway. When my niece (5 years younger than me) and I heard a tractor trailer coming down the road, we’d pretend that if we weren’t ON the porch by the time that truck was in front of the house……something bad would happen. (Can’t remember what?!) Guess most kids have those games!
tracy@sellabitmum says
Super creepy. My brother one time actually slept under my bed so when I woke-up and put my feet on the floor he grabbed my ankles. I about died. I still feel freaky every time I step out of bed.
Caroline says
“Can I get in bed wiss you?” How precious!! I must say Kat, I would be scared out of my wits too, if I played those games!!!
JDaniel4's Mom says
I used to run from the front door after I checked it at night.
Themodernmomclub says
Every night while taking the dogs out, I somehow convince myself that someone is chasing me back to my door. I end up in a dead sprint and scare the crap out of myself and the dogs. Why do we insist on scaring ourselves half to death??!
Kristen says
I still freak myself out at night when I have to use the key instead of the garage door. I mean that is always where they grab you in the scary movies…when you are fumbling with your key in the dark!
Runnermom-jen says
Hahaha!! Oh my goodness, you crack me up.
And kids staring at you in the middle of the night freaks me out too ;)
a Book for My Daughter says
Oh my god—the last paragraph caught me by surprise—I laughed so loud I nearly spilled my coffee on the computer! Love it! Do your kids like to freak themselves out, too?
Jenny says
Thank you for making me laugh out loud first thing in the morning! I can 100% relate to the opening-the-door-before-getting-shot memory!!
Angel says
OH I hate the late night staring moments. Freak.Me.Out. Even now.
Jen says
I hate when kids do that. Why do they gotta be so creepy looking in the middle of the night?
Jennifer says
My kids quit doing that to me after I woke up swinging a few times. Now they go do it to their dad. lol. deep sleeper having a nightmare + kid just standing creepily by said sleeper = kid ducking mom’s punches.
Kaye says
the worst experience with being startled I ever had was when my kids had me play a maze game on the computer and this hideous shrieking head pops up on the screen right at the end. My heart still pounds at the thought. My kids laugh and laugh about it. Fun story today.
Jamie says
Great stories. I have a creeper-sleeper too. I’ll wake up and he’ll just be standing there — motionless. My husband says it’s like Children of the Corn.
Jenn says
Wow, I’m a little creeped out by third-grade-you! It’s worse than “Bloody Mary” in the mirror!
Mama Kat says
Hahahahaha! That’s EXACTLY when I was introduced to Bloody Mary!
Diane@BeStillaMinute says
My boys both had night terrors (thank God they’ve outgrown them now). They’d sit straight up and start screaming the blood curdling scream, eyes wide open and starting right through me. Talk about being startled! My oldest even took to walking around the house like that all peg legged. My stress level was high!
Jennifer says
I watched The House of Usher on TV when I was a kid (stupid aunt and uncle that let me watch it), and the evil, scary lady grabbed someone from under the bed. I still can’t stand by the edge of my bed, and I store tons of stuff under there on purpose.
Pattyann says
Love this today! I have felt the same way (probably because I did get shot at once!) I am also still afraid of the dark. I don’t like not being able to see what is going to get me!!
Kallay says
Hahaha! Oh I’m so glad I’m not the only neurotic one afraid of mirrors and getting shot at! My doctor’s office is in a shady area, and I’m always fighting off anxiety walking the 1/4 block to his front door. Not to mention I’m terrified of the dark.
Katie says
A lot of you folks have startling issues. It is uncanny how kids can do that staring thing.
Patrice says
Funny how kids get the same weird ideas in their heads!
Kimberly at Rubber Chicken Madness says
Oh, the Stand-And-Stare move. Why do they DO that???? (shudder)
Fawn says
Hilarious! But what kind of scary movies were you gals watching as kids?? Sleeping with a box cutter at age 10. Wow! I think mine was 7 years ago when my husband was out of town on business and I was watching back-to-back episodes of Law & Order: SVU when the sun set on our home with floor-to-ceiling picture windows. So I’m alone in our home, at night, watching Law & Order. I pick up the phone to call my husband (forgetting he was screening a movie that night) and the phone was dead. I mean, completely dead. Like in the movies! I reach for my cell phone and the battery is dead. I need the charger. Oh no, the charger is in the car and I’d have to leave the house to go to the garage to get the charger but if someone cut the wires to the phone lines they’re probably waiting for me in the garage. I was so freaked out I hurried to my car and drove to a local hotel…in my pajamas…and checked in!
OMGoodness…I completely forgot about that story until just now. I stopped watching Law & Order: SVU after that…
Fawn says
And did I mention the room where our TV is located is surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows? And our home sits in the one of the most rural locations in the Los Angeles valley so there’s also plenty of coyotes and other animals hanging out at night. So we don’t go outside! So scary!!
Andrea says
Ahh ! how motherhood changes things!
Andrea says
PS Your kids wait til you let them in your bed? Mine just appear…. Hmmm how do you train them?
Kathy says
That always freaked me out when I was sleeping and you felt someone starring at you…
loved your soccer mom video still laughing….have a wonderful weekend!