growing up

i returned our smelly down comforter to macys yesterday. after major discounts, it went from being a $120 comforter to costing us $45, and the bedding man had assured me that the "smell" would wear off in a few days- it had just been sprayed with something to make it hypoallergenic. well, a week went by, and the entire apartment reeked of this pesticide or whatever it was. in fact, the cat looked kinda tipsy, and i felt high everytime i walked by it. but this post isn't supposed to be about the comforter, as there is no random quote at the top. focus, becca, focus.

after i returned the comforter, i decided to take the escalator down the 6 flights to the exit. this is big, as not only do i have a phobia of water, i also have a phobia of escalators, specifically going down them. i don't think i was born with this phobia; no, it developed thanks to my mom and the huge escalator at neimans. my mom would step on the escalator and pull back, saying, "you go first honey. really, it's safe." and then she'd hold onto the railings and her knuckles would turn white and from time to time she'd require cpr to help her get from the top to the bottom. ok, slight exaggeration. but she always insisted my sister or i go first, and then we pretty much didn't breath until we reached the bottom. as this continued, i starting looking over the edge of the escalator, seeing how high we were. then i noticed how quickly that specific escalator moved- if my foot didn't hit the step at exactly the right time, i thought it would fly out from under me and i'd go careening into the mannequins and perfume department 30 feet below. oh, and i'm right handed, so i always felt like i had to hold on for dear life and liberty with my right- the left wouldn't be strong enough to save me should godzilla smash through neimans and try to overtake said escalator on its way to play with the wooden train in the children's department.

now that i'm older (relatively, at least), i normally step onto the escalator carefully and just stand to the right. i don't walk down the left side, for that would require left-hand-holding-on maneuvers, and i'm not that advanced. but yesterday, i told myself to be strong. i stepped on the escalator and walked down. all 6 escalators. on the left side. and i didn't trip. but i did manage to slightly take out a family of tourists from guatamala and a rosie o'donnell look-a-like who thought it was customary to stand in the middle of the escalator. but that's ok because it was worth it. sigh. i'm growing up. or at least g(r)o(w)ing down.