Story of a blossoming fear

29 January 2003 ~ 02:40

What I'm scared of is something most people rather find attractive.

I'm scared of flowers.

Not all flowers. Just particular kinds. I don't mind daisies, carnations, roses, or snowdrops. The kinds I'm scared of are ones with prominent stamens, such as gladioli, tulips, orchids and the like. I have no idea why this should be. All I know is that it can be traced back to my childhood.

When I was about eight, and living in Halifax, Yorkshire, a foxglove appeared growing at the end of our garden. I thought it a rather sinister flower because of the spots inside the petals, despite the fact that it is a much-loved English flower�we even have a set of dishes with foxgloves on them.

My sister shared the fear with me�we shared most things at that age. We even shared a fear of gloves at one point. (Thankfully, I'm over that one now!)

Nowadays my sister is apparently scared of birds. Her idea of terror would be standing in the middle of Trafalgar Sqauare with pigeons flapping all around her. Me, as I've made apparent, love pigeons and relish having them perching on me when I feed them.

There seem to be several very common phobias some people have which include spiders, enclosed spaces, heights, the dark, and rats. It seems very strange to me to imagine anybody being scared of rats when I consider them to be the cutest little creatures in the whole world. I've never heard of anybody else being scared of flowers though.

I remember one time, we had a bunch of tulips in the kitchen. Mark accidentally knocked the petals off them, and I screamed and ran out of the room, leaving a very nonplussed hubby in my wake.

Heh, I wonder if there's anybody out there who's terrified of squirrrels!


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