The Friendly Book Nook is having a Summer Reading Extravaganza!  Each day from June 23rd-27th they will have a topic about summer reading that they encourage you to post about on your blog or comment on! It should be a great chance to get a lot of ideas for books to read over the summer as well as ways to encourage your children to spend some of their time reading.There are also prizes! Through regular participation you will have the chance to win one of the following:

1. Inspirational Fiction Lot: Includes Skizzer by A.J. Kiesling, A Mending at the Edge by Jane Kirkpatrick, In the Dead of Winter by Nancy Mehl, To Trust a Friend by Lynn Bullock, and a special cross bookmark made by Rabuna Fi.
2. A brand new signed copy of Stealing Athena by Karen Essex.
3. A ten dollar Amazon gift card!

Be sure to visit The Friendly Book Nook for more details!

I admit it, I have an overwhelming fear of escalators.  I can go up an escalator, but can not bring myself to go down.  I have been this way as long as I can remember.  Once when on a trip to Florida with my family, my Papaw tried to get me to go down the escalator.  I must have been around 9 years old.  After a struggle at the top and losing my flip-flop, he gave up and let me take the elevator.

A few weeks ago I got caught by my phobia.  My husband and I were in Barnes and Noble.  We went up the escalator to checkout the adult fiction only to discover that the elevator was broken.  I immediately went into panic mode.  How was I going to get down?

I tried to ignore my predicament and enjoy the books, but my heart was racing and I thought I was going to have a heart attack.  When my husband was finally ready to head back down, I was shaking and on the verge of tears.  I don’t think he had ever seen me like that.  He didn’t know what to do.

I tried giving myself a pep talk.  After all, they are just stairs - only they move a little, but it didn’t work.  I just couldn’t bring myself to step onto those moving stairs.  My dear sweet husband decided that he would try to force me onto the escalator.  Not physically mind you, but he sincerely thought if he just held my arm I would be able to do it. Nope, instead I ended up in tears. Everyone must have thought I was nuts.

I was on the verge of begging the staff to hit the stop button so I could walk down when a tiny little older lady came up to me. She asked me if I was scared to go down and I shook my head yes. She told me that she used to be scared too and that she would help get me down. She took my hand in hers and told me to just walk with her and look her in the eyes. She walked me onto the escalator and rode down with me. I couldn’t believe how easily she was able to help me down. My husband was left at the top flabbergasted that some stranger was able to talk me onto the escalator.

Once we were both down, my husband and I went and sat in the magazine section. It took me at least 15 minutes to stop shaking. I hope that is the last time I have to go down an escalator in a long time.

So do you have an phobias?  What are you afraid of?