30 Day Blog Challenge Day 17: What Am I Afraid Of?

It's day 17 of my blog challenge. I'm moving along quite well. Today's assignment is an interesting one: of what am I afraid? The list is quite extensive of things I am kind of afraid of. I guess I'm a 'fraidy cat, as we used to say when I was a kid. But there are a few things of which I'm really afraid. Here they are:

• Heights  Several years ago, some friends and I paid to climb to the top of a lighthouse at the Outer Banks. I knew I wouldn't love it, but I had no idea how terrifying it would be. I got maybe halfway up and came as close as I have ever come to having a panic attack. My heart felt like it was going to burst and I flop-sweated and my breathing became so rapid that I thought I might actually pass out. The ironic thing is that if there had been an elevator to the top, even a glass elevator, I could have gone right up and stood at the railing without any discomfort. It's the climbing and the stairs that just stupefy me with fear.

• Drowning in deep water  I don't particularly relish dying by any method, but the idea of being stranded in deep water, far away from land, and slowly losing strength and slipping under the water, only to still be alive until I give up and my lungs fill with water is just an awful way to go.

• Getting old and dying alone and forgotten  I'm not afraid of dying at all. I have no question about where I'm going after I die. But the idea of living alone and having  no one who cares about me or is with me as I die is just the saddest thing I can think of in this life. I can die in peace if I die surrounded by loved ones.

So what are you afraid of?