Fear

Someone asked me the other day where my fear of public restrooms came from. Well, here ya go…

My fear of public restrooms started when I was about 4 or 5, and I was shopping with my mom and sister at Target. I had to pee real bad, so mom let me go to the bathroom, alone. [Yay for big girls.]

I went in, did my thing (as any 5-year-old would), and when I flushed the toilet, I heard the loudest, scariest growl noise coming from the toilet/pipes. It scared me so much, that I walked out of the restroom so fast, I didn’t even wash my hands. (This was a big no-no. Mom always made sure we followed all appropriate hygiene rules. After all, we were girls.) I searched around for my mom, and when I finally found her, I was crying. The horrible noise had scared me so bad, I wanted nothing more than to be safe from the sound.

I avoided public restrooms for many years after that. I finally gave in to the fact that sometimes, you just gotta go no matter where you are, but let me tell you something…every single time I use a public restroom, I cringe just before flushing the toilet, because I know, that somewhere in those pipes, is a monster that has been trying to get me since that day in Target, some 26 years ago.

And now you know…