Like most upstanding Americans, S and I are obsessed with the Zombie Apocalypse. I think that, unlike pretty much any other country, the wars we’ve fought have been so removed from our soil for so long that our innate human need for fear must be quenched by something totally irrational and hilarious and gross and silly and scary. And, being a dirty, tree-hugging, progressive, liberal-type person, I’m not scared that gay people getting married will somehow hurt my family, or that anyone is trying to take away Christmas. So I’ve turned to zombie movies and shows – shows like The Walking Dead. During our one month free trial of Netflix, we watched the first season. Then we ordered the next few seasons.

That’s all well and good, but I am a wuss. I watched the first 3 episodes all in a row and had nightmares that night. But I was totally hooked. So S and I came up with a winning strategy. He watches several shows and fills me in on what’s happened, and then I watch every 5th episode or so to see all the new characters so that I know who he’s talking about when he catches me up. It’s great! And I’ve learned the musical cues for when the zombies are coming so that I can turn away while S tells me what’s going on.

Sometimes, though, I kind of wish I could do the same thing with my life. I just want to skip over the scary stuff and have someone fill me in and tell me how it all turns out. Then I would know what was worth worrying over and what wasn’t. And maybe I’d make fewer mistakes. Except that my friend Kristy‘s friend said, “Mistakes are how we learn. We should make more of them!” I guess the better thing for me to do is get less upset about making the mistakes and all the scary things that may or may not happen, and figure that I must be learning something with all of this. If I don’t watch it all, how will I learn and grow and be complete? Life definitely builds character and puts hair on your chest, which maybe is kind of gross, like zombies.

Does this mean I have to watch the zombies to be complete? Oh, crap. I’m gonna need more bourbon.