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Wheel Of Fortune!

mycoupons | 13 April, 2007 06:30

It’s funny how people can react so differently to the same exact situation.

On one side of the spectrum, you have calm, cool and collected people who assess a situation, develop a solution and jump into action.

Then you have me.

I do not deal with adverse situations or emergencies with any sort of decorum or calmness.

Quite the contrary.

If one of my children falls, I immediately run for the phone to call 911. I never actually dial, but it is my first instinct. I have been branded by my family as “Worst Case Scenario’ a trait I inherited from my mother.

I not only assume the worst is going to happen in any given situation, but once faced with a situation occurring I freeze like a deer in the headlights.

Case in point- My family was gathered around my brother’s dining room table, eating a lavish meal in celebration of my father’s 60^th birthday.

My mother asked my brother to please pass her a napkin, which he attempted to do. On the napkin’s voyage across the table, it came in contact with the flame from a candle on the table, and went up in flames. My brother threw the napkin, and it landed on his cloth covered dining room chair.

What happened next took place in a matter of seconds, although it felt like everything unfolded in slow motion.

Every single person at the table reacted in some way.

And none in the same way.

My brother, Mr. Calm immediately ran to fetch a fire extinguisher.

My father, Mr. Over-reactor, threw a glass of red wine towards the fire, totally missing the flames, but managing to add a nice stain to the carpet and nearby chairs.

My niece, Ms. Oblivious, kept eating her steak.

My mother, Mrs. Freak-out, started yelling for someone to call 911.

My grandmother, Mrs. Checked out of reality in the late eighties, kept talking about her optometrist and his dog.

Then there was me. I froze. All I could do was act as the informer of the group.

I sat, watching the flames, and was able to do only one thing.

Repeat the word “Fire” over and over again.

To hear my brother tell it, I sounded like Butthead from Bevis & Butthead.

Once the flames were extinguished and the damage controlled, we were all able to laugh about it, but I still wonder to this day WHY I froze.

Scientists tell us that as humans we have a ‘Fight or flight’ reflex. When faced with an adrenaline pumping situation, we make an unconscious choice to either deal with the issue or run away.

My husband set off the alarm to our house a few weeks ago. It was close to 1am. I was blissfully asleep, and he was taking the garbage to the curb. He forgot he had set the alarm already and opened the door.

The piercing wail of the siren scared me out of bed, naked as the day I was born. In my half-asleep state, I was unsure what was happening, but I knew I was scared.

Seeing the open front door, I went running. Straight onto the front porch, while my husband was in the laundry room disabling the alarm.

Once the cool night air hit my exposed skin, I became aware of my surroundings and realized I was standing naked on the porch. My husband came running to me, and asked what I was doing.

All I could answer was “Alarm! Woo-Woo, Alarm! Woo-Woo.”

I guess they need to name a new reflex after me.

The ‘Sit with mouth agape and babble like Rain man’ reflex.

Until we meet again,

Cici

Cici@MyCoupons.com