All Write, Already!

Ok, so I am not really scared of trees... but I'm not a tree-climber. My psyche thinks that I am scared of falling from a height, and I am, but that's not the whole story.

The truth is that the one time that I climbed a tree, I was stuck there for 3 hours. I was about 7 or 8, and I got up into the tree about 8 feet off the ground. Then I noticed this disgusting bug. Now, I don't know if the bug looked like this, or if over the years my mind has made the image additionally gruesome, but this bug was fucking scary. It was huge and gelatinous looking, and you could see through parts of it. Oh god - just thinking about it makes me ill.

So I noticed this thing adhered to the tree. Dear lord, I had climbed right past it! My hands had been inches away from it. I looked for a way to get down without going near it and couldn't find a way. I looked for a way to jump out of the tree, but that scared me, too. I was stuck.

I called until I was hoarse, and finally my mom's friend Virginia came and got me. I cried and shook and had a revisitation of the recurring jelly bug nightmare that plagued my childhood.

So, that's just a glimpse into why trees and I aren't on the best of terms.