Phobia

(absolutely perfect graphic found here)

I don’t have a lot of phobias, I don’t think.  I’m not excited about the idea of hanging out in an extremely crowded place with a lot of pushy strangers, but I can handle it.  I don’t love finding a spider struggling to get out of my shower, but I can handle it.  I’m not thrilled with Ferris wheels, but I wouldn’t say I have a fear of heights.  I’ve been to the top of the Empire State Building, and it didn’t freak me out in the least.

One fear I do have, however, is sleeping on a ground floor with the window open.  You cannot, CAN NOT convince me that this is safe.  I don’t care what kind of super duper safe neighborhood you live in, you never know when some freak is going to take a liking to it.  Take some time, and go look at the majority of horrific home invasions out there.  How did they get in?  Did they kick the door down?  Break a window?  No, they came in through an open window or door.  That’s how they get in.  When I was a kid, maybe 12 or 13, there were a series of horrible rapes in my town, where the rapist got in by open bedroom windows on hot summer nights.  That started me watching, paying attention to the access point of home invasions, be they rural or urban.  No difference.  In most of them, I’d say over 80%, the criminal looks for an opportunity, and exploits it.

So far, I haven’t had to deal with this fear since I left that same stupid town.  In San Francisco, my bedroom was on either the 2nd or 3rd floor.  In Philadelphia, the 16th floor of an apartment building.  Here, we live in a townhouse, and the bedrooms are upstairs.  It’s not the most efficient architecture in an area where summer temperatures get up over 100 quite often.  For that, you want low adobe buildings, where you can open the doors and windows to the evening and early morning breezes, and then shut out the sun for the hottest part of the day.  But it’s great for feeling safe with your window open at night.

I don’t know about our future…what if we move someday, to a ranch style home?  I’ve seen window locks you can put on your open window frame, to keep it from opening beyond a certain point.  I don’t know if those work, and if they do, how well.  I understand that if someone wants to get into your house, they will.  Doors will be kicked in, windows will be broken.  But I’m not sure if window locks like those protect against intruders who are looking for an opportunity.  I also understand that millions of people live in one story homes, and leave their windows open at night, and no horrible crimes occur.  I, however, don’t intend to INVITE any into my home.

How about you…do you have any phobias?  Do you intend to change them?  I don’t.  I think mine keeps me safe.