Long Overdue....

I remember way back when we first started reading Frankenstein we were discussing some of our worst fears. After much thought I would say that one of my worst fears is the fear of being depended upon and not being able to help or failing to help. I remember one example of this last summer. It was a hot day and my dad and I were shingling the roof. We probably spent a hour to a hour and a half on the roof, but that was all it took for the heat to be an annoyance. It was so hot that I had to sit on a piece of cardboard because when I sat directly on the roof it would scorch my behind. When my dad and I finished shingling the roof, he told me to go inside and cool down while he would put up the tools. I went inside for a couple of minutes and later came back outside with a cup of water for my dad. I found my dad sitting on a chair on our front porch with a dazed look on his face. He was silent and did not acknowledge me when I came outside so I knew something was wrong. I felt a sensation of worry grip me as I wondered what to do, but then my dad told me in a soft voice to help him inside the house. He sat down on the couch to cool down before drinking some water. I did not know it at the time but apparently my dad had fainted from the heat while I was inside. It was just for a split second but the worry that I felt while my dad sat quietly on the front porch still haunts me. The thought of not knowing what to do in that situation or being unable to help my dad is one that I would rather forget but cannot because of the helplessness feeling it gave me.