Things That Freak Me Out: Unsolved Mysteries Edition

The show below FREAKS me out. Everything about it makes my stomach turn in knots. The man's voice gives me nightmares. The theme song sends shivers down my back. And the fact that the majority of the cases have yet to be solved provides me with a very unsettling feeling. Thank goodness that this show is no longer on the air, because when it was I would go into a panic the second I saw it (or heard it for that matter) and immediately scream for the clicker to change the channel... or I would simply run out of the room.

          

Things That Freak Me Out: Loose Teeth Edition

So the other day I was picking up the kids I take care of from their school when the middle child decided to show me her new loose tooth. I immediately had the same reaction that I do whenever I am stuck in this type of situation. I cringed, quickly looked away, and forced a smile... all while I attempted to feign excitement over the wiggling little white object in her mouth. You see just the thought of a loose tooth makes me sick to my stomach, the actual sight of one is enough to make me have a total freak out. You could say, as odd as it is, that I have a small phobia of loose teeth... and it is all due to the toy pictured below.

Christmas 1986

This toy was a musical instrument that had interchangeable pieces. And on one fateful day two of these pieces got stuck together. I was about 5 and had a nice little set of "strong" baby teeth, or so I thought. Since I couldn't pry these stuck pieces apart with my little hands I thought that I would use my "strong" teeth. This was an extremely bad decision, and at the time had I known that the following outcome would result in my being scarred for life I probably would have thought twice, and asked a grownup for some help. I don't even remember if I got the pieces apart. What I did manage to do though was separate one of my teeth from it's cozy little home in my mouth, and just so you know this tooth was firmly planted into my gums and not at all a teeny bit loose. It fell into the white carpet of our living room, and I am pretty sure I must have started to wail in pain. Next thing you know I am sitting in my dad's lap with a bloody facecloth shoved in my mouth while my mom is searching the carpet for the lost tooth and frantically calling the pediatrician. I was never the same after that experience. While most kids loved having a loose tooth, and the whole right of passage it brought with it, I instead would have a melt down. I would refuse to eat, or if I was starving I would only eat super soft food that I could chew on one side of my mouth. I never wiggled or pulled out any of my own teeth on my own free will, and instead let them hang in my mouth by mere threads of skin (I know totally gross). I wound up with my adult teeth and my baby teeth occupying the same spaces at the same time far too often, and in turn had to have a good portion of my baby teeth extracted by the dentist. Thank goodness though that my braces were able to fix all of the mess that I created with my teeth. And as a final parting message all I have to say is... please don't ever, ever, use your teeth as pliers.