In my sister's little one street neighborhood in Mississippi, the neighbors all let their dogs run loose. If I go out walking or jogging, there are usually 4 or 5 dogs wandering around. They might bark at me from afar, but I think it's just to say "Hey, who are you?" Some of the dogs are big, but over the 2 or so years I've visited here, they've proven themselves to be harmless. They rarely come up to me.
Every few months, a new dog seems to appear. Today, a scraggly brown dog I hadn't seen before skulked near me as I was starting my 30 minute brisk walk. Strange dogs can be a little scary, but I wasn't too worried. I was fairly certain that if the dog bothered me, I would destroy it. I could completely see myself kicking it in the ribs, gauging its eyes out, and strangling it with my bare hands. That seemed completely feasible.
I attribute my ease of violence to the fact that pregnancy activates something where you are very defensive of your personal space. In the fight or flight, your flight is impaired by oh, 20, 30, 40 extra pounds, so you're ready for a fight. I truly think I am jacked up on some hormone. I feel ready to punch anyone in the face who bothers me or gets near my stomach.
I hope I never have the need to do that, but I'm just saying to the world in general, I will $&*@ing kill you if you threaten my physical safety.
Here's a pic of my sister's hood. Lots of open space between the houses, a cotton field at one end of the street, and a cow pasture behind the house on the other end. It's a little annoying and dull to walk up and down the road 5 times to get in my 30-40 minutes, but there is hardly any traffic. It's much safer and more pleasant than my neighborhood in CT.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Fight or Flight: I'll Kill You, and Your Little Dog, Too
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3 comments:
That doesn't go away! Mother grizzlies are an excellent role model, by the way. They have a wonderful "don't fuck with my baby" attitude, plus they have the fur coat and don't give a crap how big their waistline is. You know you have the mama bear attitude when you take on your inlaws over something with your kid -- and you smear their asses into the dirt.
I almost bodychecked some little boy who was trying to steer his mom's grocery cart because he came dangerously close to hitting my stomach. I shudder to think what I would do to an animal that got too close to the bump.
When I was last pregnant, my dalmatian boy was still among the living. He told me I was pregnant when he hopped up in bed with me during a mid-afternoon nap ("Gee, why am I so tired?") and protectively put his head over my uterus.
He used to scream and snarl at anyone / thing who came near me during that pregnancy, so I was officially excused from having to get dangerous.
But I would have ;0)
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