Scarred for life

I recently posted something on facebook about having had one of our nephews spend the night--and after multiple overnights that he chose to sleep on our floor--he finally tried the big guest bed out. My comment was something to the effect of " What is it with kids preferring to sleep on floors vs. comfy beds?" and of course, my mom and sister chimed in with comments about my childhood nights spent sleeping on their bedroom floor.

Yes, I was the kid that would not sleep in my own bed.

I didn't sleep in my parent's bed or my sister's bed either..I preferred to sleep on the floor in either one of their rooms. You see, my dad was gone A LOT. So, it was usually just my mom, sister and me at home.. I would often camp out on my mom's floor when dad was gone...and when he was home, I'd sleep on sis's floor..this continued through most of my childhood..I'd say I was 9 or 10 before I regularly slept in my own bed again.

Here my parent's had given me my very own room, and in fact, my dad made me a monstrocity of a bed with drawers under it...painted goldenrod yellow..definitely a color of the late 70s... It had floral decals that I remember watching my mom adhere...all for me. It was my big kid bed. And it was awesome. But, I rarely slept in it.

Why?

I don't remember exactly how old I was, but I remember WHY I decided that my room was not fit to sleep in.

You ready for this??

Mom took my sister and I to see a movie.

The movie was a classic. Most kids loved it. I did not.

She took us to see...

E.T.

Never in my life have I remembered being so scared of something. That little extra-terrestrial ( whom I assume most kids loved, I hear he was actually loveable..but I wouldn't know. I covered my eyes most of the movie) scared the bejezus out of me. The scene that forever changed my life was the one where the little girl ( Drew Barrymore) opens her closet with all her stuffed animals and E.T. is amongst them...

From that night on, I was scared of my closet. Especially when the doors were closed. I remember wanting my mom to keep my light on in my room and NOT close the closet door. One time I looked up on the top shelf where I swore I saw his pinkish brown ugly fingers...turned out it was just a pair of old ballet shoes...But seriously..E.T. is to blame for my fear of sleeping with closed closet doors which I finally got over sometime in my mid twenties.

My mom and sister joke that I should watch E.T. again as an adult..

It's been about 29 years since my first and only viewing of the movie, and I am finally able to sleep with closed closet doors..I don't think NZ would appreciate me asking if we could sleep with the lights on and closet doors open. Therefore, I will never, ever, ever, watch E.T. again.

Call me silly, tell me what a great movie it is..I don't care.

That's just one of those oddities that has stuck with me into adulthood, which got me thinking...am I the only one who maintains a fear of something I know is silly?