Overreacting

A guest blog post by Sarah Munné

I am more than aware of my greatest failure. My ability to morph an innocent situation into something monumentally catastrophic is uncanny. I overreact.

In many cases, this overreaction is a result of my emotions taking over when encountering a situation that is outside of my comfort zone: ladybugs, blueberries, ex-boyfriends, bananas, and Barney. 

That’s right – Barney the beloved, purple dinosaur.

It was October 13, 1993. I was having a beautiful birthday party complete with Beauty and the Beast cake. (This was a staple at my birthday parties.) My parents had gathered all of my kindergarten friends and their families for a perfectly normal party. 

But then, he came. 

That purple dinosaur came into my living room escorted by a red-headed clown.

And I had a meltdown. 

My poor, precious parents had no idea how to handle the situation. To them, this was the best surprise they could give their child: her favorite character from her favorite show had come to life! However, I was not delighted. I was terrified. 

For a solid hour or so, I cried and hid behind my mother while every other child at my party danced with Barney, sang with Barney, had their pictures taken with Barney, and accepted beautiful gifts and balloons from Barney. 

I did not like Barney, nor did I trust this strange clown. There was no clown on the show. This woman was an imposter! Also Barney would not speak. I found this to be very suspicious. 

Needless to say, Barney finally left, and my life carried on. 

I do not handle surprise situations well, nor do I forget them.



About Sarah: 
Sarah is my sister. In fact, I'm the one in purple shorts to the left of Barney in that picture. Sarah tells a story better than anyone else I know. She legitimately has a berry phobia -- I don't get it. Sarah is currently an English and speech teacher in southern Texas.