HEEBIE-JEEBIES?

Have you ever had the heebie-jeebies?

Now I don't go looking for trouble, but there are a few things that certainly give me the heebie-jeebies.

The first and most irrational one happens to be a leftover from my teen years.  I think I've even mentioned it in an older blog.  It is simply seeing a swimming pool without water in it.  I will spare you the reason why it gives me the heebie-jeebies, and forcing myself to walk in my own swimming pool when it was drained for repairs many years ago really never made the irrationality go away, although I thought it would.  But it just kind of "tempered" it.  I don't have many occasions anymore to see empty swimming pools, but I have to admit two things: if I saw one I'm sure I wouldn't faint or anything like that, and if I had any say so in the matter, I probably wouldn't look at it in the first place if I had to walk by it.

I know.  It's crazy, but not incapacitating!

The second thing that gives me the heebie-jeebies is not going to be good PR for California.  I do not like to be caught at a red light when I am driving under a freeway overpass.  I think this nervousness came from one of the old SoCal earthquakes - either the Sylmar quake in 1971 or the Northridge quake in 1994.  An overpass collapsed on a car.  Of course all the newspapers ran pictures of it.  I am not ordinarily fearful of earthquakes (except in Turkey, because our apartment building was not very substantial).  The slight chance of being injured in one here in California doesn't give me any particular fear, but when I am driving and see that I am going to be caught at a stoplight while I'm having to wait under a freeway overpass -- well, what I experience is a good case of the heebie-jeebies.  No yelling, no thrashing about, but I tell you I am always ready, at first shake, to jump out of my car and run for my life!  Man! I don't like that!

And the final thing that makes me nervous is driving on the freeway beside a semi-truck.  We have way too many truck-car accidents here on our freeways.  The car rarely wins.  Just today as I drove down the onramp onto the 60 freeway, I had to merge into the traffic lane next to a big red semi.  At least it was a pretty, clean bright red - not that it mattered, but since I was to merge at the speed of traffic it took a little maneuvering to end up away from that semi as fast as I could manage it!

Now these last two situations are rational, as opposed to the irrational fear of an empty swimming pool. Nevertheless, there is no way that I can control either of those from occurring like I do when I opt not to look at the pool.

This morning, with Jerry by my side as I merged onto the 60, I asked him if anything gave him "the willies" - another good set of words for "heebie-jeebie."  Good old placid Jerry.  "Nope," he said, "not that I can think of."

Ah...... I should be lucky enough to go through life not thinking of disasters and things like that.  Que sera, sera is his mantra. Fatalism, I calls it!  No use trying to change myself at this stage of the game.  I guess I'm one of those "set in their ways" oldsters.  At least these quirks aren't debilitating.  They sure don't keep me off the freeway.  (And it's age that keeps me out of the swimming pool!)