Scariest thing you've ever done

Renounce the faith of my Baptist parents.

Oy, Esther. Sure glad you are ok after that motorcycle crash. Please don't do that again, k. I had a motorcycle scary thing too. When I was a teenager, I went on a motorcycle that belonged to a fellow who was kinda tough and we got on and then promtly fell off. We were laughing, why I don't know. Guess we were happy we weren't really hurt...

I don't know if I'd classify these as scary, but some would.

I've gone parachuting. I had a line twist (meaning the ropes connecting the parachute to me were twisted), which was no biggie, I kicked it out, turning myself around until the lines were straight. Then, once my chute was all straightened out, I hit a warm air pocket and went up instead of down. What was supposed to be a three minute ride turned into a twenty minute experience. The people on the ground saw that I was going too high and there was some sort of debris being sucked up right above me, so I basically had to take the toggle and deflate half my parachute and put myself into a spin, a very fast spin, to lose some altitude. It was super exciting. A very long, wild ride, and I loved it.

I've come face to face with black bears. No biggie. They're not aggressive.

I've come face to face with a mountain loin. That one had my heart pounding. I'd rather run into a black bear any day. I had no idea how enormous mountain lion's were until I accidentally rode (on my horse) right up to one.

I went four-wheeling in a jeep with a complete idiot driving and ended rolling down the side of a mountain.

I had a good horse slip and accidentally smash my leg under her; had a temperamental horse throw itself over on me, put in the hospital for a while and I came out sporting permanent hardware in my left leg; and I had a spooked horse trample me when I was a little kid (had a purple bruise in the perfect shape of a horse's hoof on my stomach, I thought it was the coolest thing in the world at the time).

I think most of those experiences (other than the parachuting) are actually normal for a kid who grew up on a small ranch in the mountains of Colorado.

Lantern Jack said:

Renounce the faith of my Baptist parents.

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Whoa, that is scary.

Let's see, I drove a jeep full-speed into a tank trap once. Rode in an Egyptian military bus (driven by an Egyptian PFC) across the desert at 2:00am and through rush hour in Alexandria. As an aside, do you know why they make sidewalks in Alexandria? It's in case the car in front of you stops for a red light. Well maybe that's not what they're for, but that's what I saw at least one guy use it for.

Anyway, what else...? I made it partway around the Beehive at Acadia National Park. That's no big deal, but for someone with my fear of heights it was pretty close to a Depends moment. I put up the gutters on my new house all by my onesome too--not quickly, but I did it. For me, that was scary.

Might think of some more later....

I went four-wheeling in a jeep with a complete idiot as a passenger and ended rolling down the side of a mountain.

Okay, I didn't do that. I confess; I stole it from Story. But, I couldn't think of anything that would even compare to these. Maybe having three brain surgeries in five months counts? Those weren't exactly choices, tho.

Had kids.

Vietnam.

caw.

Actually, scary things, I can't think of. I can think of terrifying things, though.


Having my 6 month old baby girl stop breathing in front of me. Luckily we were in the hospital and I got a nurse to do CPR. She went into a coma and they told me it was "touch and go," that night. She survived that night and is 17 years old today.


Being told my brother had been killed in a car accident, and then having to tell my mother the same news. That. Single. Event. I. Wouldn't. Wish. On. Anyone.

I have had a lot of scary things happen to me, but most of them I didn't volunteer for. (Like having a bullet come right through the front door of my house and pass less than a foot over the head of my baby, or having my right index finger bitten off at the first knuckle and the surgery to have it reattached, various health scares. etc..)

I've gone skydiving several times, but that's not really scary after the first time. I've bungee jumped once. I worked as an EMT for a short while and saw some seriously messed-up car accidents. I dated satan.

XThe NavigatorX said:

I dated satan.

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Really? Me, too. Small world. Was she wearing those hideous, Mickey Mouse clodhoppers? To disguise her cloven hooves, doubtless.

Oh Pam (((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Pam)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))




For me:

Unintentionally:
Being one of the safety and security people on the gate at an SCA event and having the guy who owned a store down the street put a loaded gun 6" from my face, with the words "where I come from we take care of our problems", when he was looking for someone who robbed his store that night. Thankfully, a Vietnam vet took over and we didn't have the robber in question on site.

Intentionally:
Standing up in front of a packed church of over 200 souls, and telling Bo Bice the story of how he helped to create a miracle in my husband's life and in my life.

Future:
My husband was a Vietnam vet, and the only really serious thing that he asked of me, consistently, during our marriage, was to do a parachute jump, because he parachuted during his service. I was always too chicken, but since he died he has sent me several messages, through others, that he still wants me to do it, so it is on my list. Thank you Storygirl; you sent me a message from my Dan

Okay, here goes. [takes deep breath] At 10, was charged by a bull black bear, attacked by a monkey and a goose and charged by a 130-pound German shepherd, was hit by a car which left me covered with blood; was rescused by "The Coyote Killer". Have been struck by 9 more cars, since. Traveled 7 hours through urban gang territory in Buffalo for 2 years. Got lost in a national park. Went rappelling. Went white-water rafting down the river they used for the '93 summer Olympics when the tide was low; was gay at the time when I attended one of the largest Promise Keepers gatherings ever; rode in a car with a pregnant, perpetually-high, Sicilian road-rager for two years (and two Buffalo winters!); have biked through simultaneous dark and blizzard conditions over 2,000 times; survived 5 different hurricane-type situations; survived cicada season '97; survived four different "Night of the Tornadoes" (that's where your state gets more than 50 tornadoes in a single night); went streaking more than 100 times; was chased by a frothing maniac two nights in a row, Duel style; survived rape; was chased by a 12-point buck; was chased by a St. Bernard on 12 consecutive occasions; played Murderball over 400 times with testosterone cases pitching the balls upward of 70 mph; made out with a boy for 2 straight years in full view of a public road in Tennessee; was walking a horse when it startled; have been lost on over 7 different field trips when I was little; had my wallet stolen when I was sleep; got lost in the porn district in Buffalo; was locked up with my gay/nudist psych professor for a week; spent 5 years on anti-psychotics/anti-depressants/anti-anxiety medication and was hospitalized; dated a razor-wielding maniac for two and one half years; raced across 25 different rush-hour roads without looking; got myself lost in Texas Chainsaw Massacre territory, in a graveyard, in the middle of the night; got myself locked in a basement with no light; slept in a room with a dozen rats racing around in the walls for 7 straight summers; saw a man die before my very eyes, twice; mopped up the blood of someone who'd slit their wrists (one on accident, one of purpose); had 45 bomb threats when I was in high school. And that's just the stuff I can remember off the tip-top of my pointy, little head

Gotten married.


Even scarier. Stayed married (so far).


and as eldragon said: had kids.

1) The kids

2) I took a manuscript out of my drawer and I wrote a cover letter for it and I mailed it.

I asked Haskins "How's it going?"

Rob

Pam:

Hmmm...I'm such a cautious person. I think things through 'til I can't even remember what I'm considering doing. I even went to the same college my sister was at.

The scariest thing I've ever done was stay calm for an entire morning.

Being in the 9th floor in the middle of an earthquake (my first earthquake ever), watching the walls crack around me and seeing everything swaying like small branches on a strong air. Then, hearing the screams of my brother and all the neighbors of the apartment building running like crazy all over the place. I really thought the building would collapse at that time.

It would have to be, without a doubt, May 24th, 1997.





I told her she looked fat in those pants...

brokenfingers said:

I told her she looked fat in those pants...

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and you're still ALIVE??? WOW!!!

Oh, I thought of another one:
Coming home after a long night of partying, in Atlanta where I lived in an apartment by myself, to find the front door wide open. The place had been ransacked and robbed. The backdoor was open, too.

I wasn't that upset, called the police. It was about 3 am. A nice police officer came by and took a report, which was useless, because I didn't have insurance anyway. I was missing jewelry, a stereo and cash.

So, the policeman left, and went out front to sit in his car to write the report, and thankfully, he was a slow writer, because someone tried to kick in the backdoor of my apartment. All the lights were on, they knew I was home. I freaked out, beat the crap out of the window to get the policeman's attention. He drew his gun and went around the side of the apartment building, but found nobody. I was so scared, he sat in my apartment until morning. I went to bed and he sat on the couch in the living room. (Another unsung hero.)


Never did find out who robbed my house, but I think it was a cab driver I had turned down for a date. He just happened to be the one to answer the call to pick me up that night, and was very po'd that "I'd rather go out and pay for my own dinner with a girlfriend than go out with him."


That was spooky at the time.

Probably getting married. My palms were sweating so much it was unbelievable. I had only known him for 3 months.

Scariest as an adult? Got married. Scariest as a teenager? Admitted that I was the careless one who forgot to blow the candle out--the candle the burned the house down.

BlueTexas said:

Scariest as a teenager? Admitted that I was the careless one who forgot to blow the candle out--the candle the burned the house down.

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Oh no. That had to be a fun one to admit. I'm surprised you had the courage to do it. I'd be tempted to run away from home (or from my homeless family as the case would be).

storygirl said:

Oh no. That had to be a fun one to admit. I'm surprised you had the courage to do it. I'd be tempted to run away from home (or from my homeless family as the case would be).

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I was surprised I had the courage, too. If nothing else, I learned something about myself that day.