"THREE OF MANY FRIGHTENING INCIDENTS!"

“THREE OF MANY FRIGHTENING INCIDENTS!”

I’ve had so many that it would take tons of posts to tell of all of the frightening incidents that I have survived. But there are three that stand out to this day and looking back, I don’t know how I had the wits to do what I did! If they had happened to me recently, there would be no coping skills.

The first horrible thing that happened to me was when I was first married: I was alone ironing for what seemed like forever. It was the time of ironing shirts that were made out of one hundred percent cotton and not only was spray starch used but so was a lot of hand pressure on the iron by me. Was watching tv and hoping that would take my mind off the pile of clothes that had to be ironed when all of a sudden, the iron caught on fire! Not only was the iron on fire but so was the cord that was of course plugged into the outlet.

Don’t know how I found the courage to jerk the “on fire cord” out of the wall outlet but I did and ran with the burning iron into the kitchen and threw the thing in the sink! Turned on the cold water and just let the iron drown right there and then. And that’s when I realized that the entire house could have gone up in flames and that’s when I got scared. I didn’t iron for several days as a new iron had to be purchased and when I did iron again, it was with extreme caution.

Several years later, my husband and I moved out of that house as we had two young sons and the neighborhood there had no children at all. Found the house in which I still am in and I had quit teaching and was staying home with my young sons [I would go back to teaching later on] and life seemed good. One afternoon, I was cooking a roast in the oven and I don’t know if was just my thought or not but the outside oven door was too hot to touch. Got out the potholders and opened up the door to take out the roast: I had to pour some juice off of it.

And guess what happened? The hot oven door came off right in my potholder-covered hands! My two little sons would have been no help and there was no one around other than them. Not only was the oven door as hot as Hades but it was heavy. As if guided by some mysterious force, I managed to use my knee to open up the storm door while holding onto the hot oven door and run off of the carport and throw the door onto the yard! You could hear the grass sizzling and if you had been beside me, you would have heard the sound of my heart beating at an unusual rate.

That evening my husband fixed the door. Lucky for him, that thing had cooled down. From then on I was afraid to touch it for fear of it happening again to me. I was never so glad in my life when that stove was replaced with a new one.

The last horrible thing [of so many] that happened also was here at this house. It was summer and my sons were about ten and twelve: They were up the street playing. And again, I was alone—that is till the mailman came by to deliver my mail. I had gotten this idea to build a rock garden out behind my house about a week prior to his showing up. Dragged one big rock after another but still needed more, of course. Since I knew him well as he lived down the street from me, I asked him if he’d help me get a big rock down to the garden.

He agreed and picked up the gigantic rock and as we started down to the semi-finished rock garden, he said, “You know there are snakes down there!” I looked at him with my mouth wide open as I am terrified of snakes—couldn’t even look at pictures of them. Had my back to a tree because that’s where I wanted him to put the rock. That was not a good idea for he screamed, “There’s a copperhead right behind you on the tree!” I was paralyzed with fear. Afraid to move. Afraid to breathe. And definitely afraid that the snake would slither onto me.

Again, some miracle happened for he told me then and there that the copperhead had gone down into the woods behind the tree. If you think that the rock garden got finished by me, think again! No way did I venture back to it: It was a man’s job this time.

An iron on fire, a hot oven door in my potholder-covered hands and a copperhead right behind me were three incidents that will forever stick in my mind. I got over my fear of irons for I had to as I was ironing shirts for three males and my clothes as well and you can’t iron without an iron. The old stove had been replaced and I just prayed a lot that this oven door would not come off and it hasn’t—yet. As for that snake, I have never gotten over it and never will for of all of the things that I hate and am afraid of, snakes are right up there as number one on my top ten list.

These are just three of many frightening incidents that happened to me. I could probably count well over one hundred: I am one of those people that if there is an accident waiting to happen, it will involve me. Peril? Of course. It should be my middle name!



Sherry Hill

I am not posting a photo of a snake!