Happy (?) 4th of July

You should know I have a few phobias. Spiders are a big one. They give me major heebie-jeebies, and I've been known to hyperventilate in the presence of larger varieties. I won't go near them at the pet store and Liz has to pick up Sam to see if they are in a higher cage. I will NOT trap and release them if I see them and have even been known to go out of my way to kill them if I can do so from a safe distance. I tried to watch "Arachnophobia" once and didn't sleep for a month. You get the picture, right??
Also, not terribly fond of bridges-- have this thing about picturing my car slamming through the iron walls and plunging to my death in the icy waters below. I can drive across bridges, but there's a definite rise in blood pressure when I do.
So, spiders and bridges. Pretty normal phobias for the most part, right?? I could probably find several other people who share these feelings. . .

But I have others.

Glass walkways and steel grates for instance. I can't walk on them if my life depends on it. Personally, I haven't the foggiest idea why some moron would have invented such a dangerous and obvious disaster-waiting-to-happen thing such as the glass walkway, all I know is I can't shop at the Galleria in the Baltimore Harbor because of it. Clearly, one of these days, a small child is going to walk across it quite unaware of the danger lurking beneath their feet and the last thing they will hear before they plummet to their demise will be the sound of cracking glass. . .
So I know it's not rational, but yet somehow I still can't convince myself of this fact. And I haven't even gotten to the worst of them--
I am terrified of fireworks.
I'm OK during professional fireworks displays--baseball games, Disney World, standard Independence Day shows--well, I'm jumpy and nervous, but I can function. But do-it-yourself, purchased-from-a-bright-yellow-two-for-the-price-of-one-stand-in-the-middle-of-a-grocery-store-parking-lot?? No way, Jose. I break out in a cold sweat, shake uncontrollably, my heart races, and sometimes I even cry. I won't even light a sparkler.
Now, my husband knows this about me. It's not a new fear, I've been afraid of them my whole life. So why on earth, given that he knows this about me would he suggest we attend 4th of July festivities in Dundalk --the illegal residential fireworks display capital of the world??!!? I have absolutely no idea. So I made a complete fool of myself this evening at a party when the neighbors 10 feet away began setting off fireworks and practically dove under the table like a Vietnam vet having a flashback.
So Happy 4th of July to everyone out there--I'll be under the bed.