My hidden phobia

When most people describe their phobia or fear, it is common to hear people talk about their fear of heights or the occasional spider. Send me on a huge roller coaster and I will be delighted. Put a spider on my head and I won't even jump. However, there is one thing that will raise the hair on my arms.This item is a couch with a cover. Maybe it is the unknown piece of moldy food that lays hidden between the cushions, or the crazy texture of that old jean material cover. I do not know the exact reason as to why this strikes so much fear into me, but the fear is definitely apparent.

I think my fear began when I was about seven years old. For our Christmas celebration, my dad's side of the family decided to rent a cabin on an island in the middle of a lake somewhere in Minnesota. The outside of the cabin was very fun and exciting. One of my cousin's even brought a dog sled accompanied by her four huskies.  It was the best feeling in the world to ride on the ice, while pretending to be a professional sled dog owner. Although, the outside of the cabin offered lots of fun and amazing adventure, the inside was a different strory. There was a pretty good chance that no one had lived in the cabin for many decades. The floor inside the cabin and the floor of the woods ouside the cabin bore a very close resemblance to each other. The furniture in the cabin had also seen its better days, and every couch or chair had a covering on it. Even my childhood curiosity didn't dare to have a peak at what lay underneath those couch covers. It was here on this family vacation where my phobia of couch covers began.

Although I have not been to another old cabin in the middle of a lake, my family has visited a few cabins since. I am not sure why, but the common theme at every cabin I go to seems to be couch covers. As you might imagine, this is a very scary moment for me. I have decided that whenever I go to places like this, I will just try to avoid the couches altogether. This usually means I end up sitting on the floor, but this is okay by me. My family finds it a bit odd, but I just tell them it is more comfortable being close to the ground. Not very many people knew about my fear of couch covers, but I guess you could say that now my secret phobia is uncovered. No pun intended!