Things That Take Awhile To Figure Out

As a kid I didn't have a lot of fears. Spiders were tolerable.  Snapping turtles?  I said, "Hi" when snappers popped their little heads up out of the water right next to me when I was swimming in Block Lake. Snakes weren't so great and I wasn't happy when my cousin put a garter snake down the back of my shirt.  Lucky for me my shirt wasn't tucked in and the snake was out before I fully processed it's presence.  Frogs?  I collected them and sold them for a dollar a dozen.  Leeches?  "Don't swim under the dock!" I was told time and time again but it was fun and I would come out with leeches attached between all ten toes.  I wasn't afraid of bears of wolves or getting lost. What I was afraid of was quicksand.  Quicksand was deadly.  And I've never seen actual quicksand.  Even sand bars made me nervous because there could be quicksand on a sandbar.  So why was I so afraid of coming across quicksand?  I never knew why until the most recent rainy Saturday when I was cleaning my house.  MeTV was having Tarzan marathon.  Now it comes clear to me. Tarzan's enemies were constantly wandering into quicksand. Quicksand is possible in Minnesota if there is running water under a sandy soil like next to a river for example.  Or, possibly, a gravel road with a frost boil in it.  I DID get stuck in one of those.  Actually the frost boil that ate the front end of my Honda Civic was a Minnesota version of quicksand.  I guess I didn't realize it until now..  I've grown up.  I do have fears. But I'm not afraid of quicksand any more.  The upcoming presidential election scares the crap out of me now but quicksand? Schmicksand!