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How The Parent Trap Gave Me Herpetophobia

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UCF chapter.

Everyone loves the wholesome, family movie, The Parent Trap. It’s funny, loveable, and it left everyone wondering if they had a long lost twin. I mean who wouldn’t want a clone of themselves? And everyone loves the classic tale of twins banding together to defeat their evil future step mother. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great story, but it provoked one of my biggest fears!

I have a huge phobia of lizards. Yup, that’s right, lizards. But not just any lizards. Small lizards. I associate this fear of lizards with having Herpetophobia, the fear of all reptiles. However, I can spend all day with alligators and iguanas (ones that can actually hurt or kill me), but those small wall lizards make me jump out of my skin. You guys might think they are tiny and cute, but THINK NOT! They are just waiting to jump on your water bottle and scare the crap out of you. Or nest in your hair without you even knowing it. Or even worse, climb in your mouth and have a dance party.

The scene when Meredith gets attacked by a lizard will forever be ingrained in my head every time I come across one (which is every day considering that I live in Florida)! Ugh! I actually felt bad for that villainous tramp. No one deserves that kind of trauma.

Living in Florida is probably the worst place for me. There are lizards everywhere just waiting to attack me. I see them every single day and they love to scurry right in front of me when I walk to class. I am sure they get a kick out of watching me convulse with fear. And it is as if they stare at me, taunting me with their beady little eyes. Everything about them repulses me. The way they slither around, their long wriggly tails, their pointy faces. I shudder just writing about it.

I do not think I will ever get over this fear. I guess my only option would be to move up north. They cannot survive the cold weather and honestly neither can I, but it’s the only chance I have at living a peaceful life.

I just wanted to say a special thanks to little Lindsey Lohan for coming up with the idea to torment someone with a lizard and giving me Herpetophobia. Thank you for ruining my life.

Disclaimer: I am fully aware that small lizards cannot harm me. And I don’t think I actually have a phobia of lizards. But they just really give me the heebie-jeebies.

 

Photo credit:

http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/5500000/The-Parent-Trap-the-pare…

http://cdn3.teen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/parent-trap-meredith-liz…

UCF Contributor