Ok, so lets just say growing up I was easily scared. I was scared of any bugs, especially ones that
fly. The flying ones never know where they are going! The dark scared me as well as creepy noises. So my Dad, being the understanding parent he was, would go to great lengths to scare the crap out of me. For example, standing outside our living room window in the cold with a flashlight to his chin for twenty minutes until I seen him. I mean, C'mon, who does that??
The worst scare he ever got on me was once when me and my buddy were playing basketball in the dark front yard. We made a rule that a free throw would come from standing against the car bumper parked in the front yard. Now let me tell you, we had a yard light in the back yard and in the front...nothing! Well dad decides to go out the back door and sneak around and scare us. He walks to the front yard, then on hand and knee, crawls across the yard and under the car. A few minutes later I step back to the car, lean against the bumper and prepare for my free throw. Suddenly he grabs my leg and screams. They say when you are scared you either flee or fight. I, on the other hand, screamed bloody murder, fell to my knees crying and could not catch my breath. My mom rushed from the house to see what was wrong. When she realized dad was laughing because he scared me she began to tell him how wrong he was. With every laugh he took her tone would get higher. She told him things like "one day your going to kill him!" "he almost passed out!" and "why would you scare him that bad!" I finally caught my breath and get my wits about me. Dad helped me up and with a laugh said he was sorry. I began to laugh and we all got a good kick out of it.
To this day, I still worry he is behind the door when I walk through and I am much more aware of my surroundings. Also, I am pretty darn good at scaring my family now!!!
