The night my neighbor told me she was scared of the dark at 62

Last Tuesday around 3am I was sitting on my porch after my shift, just trying to unwind. My neighbor Margaret came out with her little dog and asked if she could sit with me for a bit. She told me how after her husband passed last spring she couldn't sleep without every light on in the house, and she never told anyone that because it felt childish. I told her I still sleep with a nightlight and we just sat there in the dark not saying much. Have you ever had someone share something embarrassing like that and it made you feel way less alone about your own stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

stone.lisa16d ago

Margaret's 3am confession reminded me even older folks feel embarrassed about what scares them.

elizabethmason16d ago

Lisa you hit on something real with that "even older folks feel embarrassed" part. I think age doesn't matter when it comes to being scared of stuff that seems silly in the daytime. My grandma is 78 and she still gets jumpy about the basement light timing out before she gets back up the stairs. It doesn't matter how old you get, the brain at 3am is just wired different and we all feel a bit dumb admitting it later.

ryan_shah3815d ago

Isnt it funny how being scared of the dark doesnt really go away, it just changes what we call it? Like we all have this secret list of things that get to us at night, but we wont admit to it until someone else brings it up first. @elizabethmason your grandma is smarter than she lets on probably just using the light timer excuse to avoid the stairs, but I get it. Its the same reason I still walk fast past a certain window at my place even though I know nothing is out there. We spend all day pretending were tough and then the sun goes down and suddenly every creak is a potential intruder.