A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I don’t like surprises. Most of my friends know that when I am surprised by something, I completely panic. To say I startle easily doesn’t even begin to describe it. Growing up, I was known to run off screaming upon entering the hallway if a parent or sibling happened to be there without my prior knowledge. E actually announces himself when he comes home, and not in a, “Hi Honey,” sort of way, more like, “JUST SO YOU KNOW, I AM HOME, DON’T BE SCARED.” I’m regularly startled by door bells, telephones and people waiting for the elevator when I’m exiting.
Unfortunately for me, one of R’s favorite things in the whole entire world is to scare people. Last time I was in California, I was in the house minding my own business and he comes up to the screen door shaking it and making crazy noises like a grizzly bear or something. At least that is how it went down in my head; There was a grizzly bear (in the middle of San Diego) at the front door trying to break in and kill me. I was soooooo scared I couldn’t even run away, I just ran in place, waving my arms in the air like a maniac and screaming at a pitch probably only dogs can hear. While I was terrified, R looked like he had just won the lottery. I have never seen a bigger grin on that man’s face. I have a feeling he replays my freakout in his head whenever he has a bad day.
Anyhow, I suppose you could say that I have a slightly high-strung disposition. I am generally anxious, but unless you are a close friend or a particularly perceptive stranger, you probably wouldn’t notice. I am good at hiding my crazy. But sometimes, I just can’t help myself and something that might seem insignificant to other people really gets me worked up. In situations like this, E might tell me the following:
Luckily for me, E is my complete opposite in the sense that he is almost always cool and collected. I keep hoping it will rub off on me, and I think it has, a little. Part of E’s temperament must be genetic. He’s Swedish. From my experience being around Swedes (which is extensive), I have concluded that they are way better at keeping it together than Californian’s are. I know my Swedish friends very well, and I can’t recall any of them flipping out or having a strong reaction to anything. LA traffic, no problem if you are Swedish. No wonder everyone likes them!
Even though we have our own version of this idiom in America, the Swedes put it into practice much better than we do. If you have ever been to Sweden or know Swedish people, I’m sure you will agree. If you love Sweden and want to sport some Swedish pride, you can find this illustration as well as our first illustrated Swedish idiom in our Society6 store as a print, T-shirt, iPhone cover and more. If you missed the first Swedish idiom illustration, you can check out that post here.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and we’ll be back with a new post and some news about Little j on Tuesday!
