Circus TraumaSidetracked Sisters

Circus Nursery

I was 4 years old and had a beautiful circus-themed nursery. There was a handmade circus wagon on one side that my dad made special for me, complete with a canopy overhead. The circus wagon had cute stuffed animals on it of a lion, a tiger, and a bear, among others. On the opposite wall were pictures of those same sweet circus animals. Mom thought she had done such a great job making this cute, sweet nursery, but little did she know…

I lay in my bed at night in terror that those animals would wake up and eat me alive. I had to lay on my back, head pointing to the ceiling, with my eyes closed so they would remain asleep. Every night, before bedtime, I would take the tiger whose head rolled around and played music when you pulled the string in his back, and I would put it on mom’s bed. I could handle the other animals, but he was beyond creepy.

Keeping with the tradition of torturing my kids with the things that I was tortured with, the circus wagon was used in both Brad’s and Jessica’s nurseries, but they didn’t have the same issues with it as I did. But Bradley is NOT a fan of clowns to this day.

Friday the 13th

circus I was 10 years old when the first Friday the 13th movie was released and there was no way that mom and dad would ever let me watch that movie, BUT Mary down the street had access to HBO and Showtime, so we decided that it was time for a sleepover. We got into our pj’s and popped the popcorn and snuggled into our sleeping bags in front of the tv. I remember being horrified at the movie and covering my face through many parts, unable to deal with the scary scenes. I somehow made it through the night, but from that point on, I had to really work on my thoughts if I was ever home alone.

When trying to go to bed, I would have to run through any and all differences between me and the movie.

I’m not at summer camp – check
I’m not having sex – check
I’m not running for my life from a psychopath – check

And so on…

Also – if there was a part of the house that was dark, for example, part of the staircase, I would have to somehow catapult myself across the dark areas so that the monsters wouldn’t grab me by the ankles and drag me into the abyss.

The fear of the dark lasted well into my 20s and I still am unable to watch any of the Halloween or Friday the 13th movies in their entirety. I’m able to watch some horror movies, but they are definitely NOT my favorite pastime.