DON'T OPEN THAT DOOR!

It’s that time of year, when everyone’s thoughts turn to goblins and ghosts. Several of the TV stations run scary movies in the days leading up to Halloween. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems that all of these movies have a moment in time where one of the characters is going to open the door/window and the monster/ghoul/zombie/mummy is on the other side. I usually BEG the character not to do it, but apparently they can’t hear me – and boom - well, we all know what happens next.

I went to a haunted house in Gatlinburg one time. I went with a bunch of friends – and we worked ourselves up into a pretty bad scare just in the first room. It was a room with 12 identical doors. A few doors would open a little bit – and there was something blocking it. A couple doors opened into walls – or loud screams. One door opened into a passageway that came back into the room. Finally, there was only one door left – we finally worked up enough courage to open that door, and just as we got to it – someone jumped out – and scared us to death in the meantime. He had some sort of monster mask on. We ended up in a tight clump clear on the other side of the room. He kept pointing towards the door – indicating it was the one to go through – but it took us a few minutes to get up the courage. Finally I noticed that he had Nike sneakers on – how scary could he really be? So, we eventually made it through the door.

The rest of the haunted house was fairly uneventful – but it didn’t matter, we had worked ourselves up into a great big scare, and we jumped at everything. And then we got to the top floor. There was a little hallway. One side had an outdoor balcony that allowed you to see most of Gatlinburg. The other side had a balcony that opened all the way down (3 stories) to the entrance foyer. I stepped out onto that little balcony – just big enough for one person. And totally rigged to tilt forward. I’m sure it was only 10 degrees, or so, but it felt like I was going to plummet to my death three stories down. And I’m sure my scream echoed throughout Gatlinburg – and quite possibly was heard as far away as Knoxville.

Sometimes it’s fun to be scared. Haunted houses, scary movies – all of these things make big bucks, because people like to be scared. But when things happen in my life that are truly scary – for some reason I try to pretend that they aren’t real. I’m talking about things like serious health issues – congestive heart failure, kidney problems, or diabetes. Things that I may not have any control over. Things that can be intensified by weight. I spent a couple of years gasping for breath before I finally saw a doctor and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. The scare from that was a lot worse than any movie or haunted house, and it didn’t go away. And even after I faced the reality – I didn’t lose the weight. I guess I wasn’t scared ENOUGH. I am so grateful for the doctor who got in my face – who laid it out in black and white – who said to me, “Lose weight, or die.” He is the one who started me on this journey of weight loss. I’m still scared – some days the fear is paralyzing. It’s hard knowing that I have contributed to these health issues. It’s difficult knowing that they aren’t going to get better. It is really scary thinking that for the rest of my life – no matter how long that is – I will have to fight these battles. Maybe it’s a good thing to OPEN THAT DOOR and face my fears.