VAMPIRES

Once you invite a vampire into your home, they can come and go whenever they deem it necessary. Not all vampires are obvious. Not all of them have fangs and mesmerizing red eyes. Actually, in this day and age, I’d make a wild inference that most vampires have cute smiles, chocolate eyes that make your candy melt, and a tone body—but not too tone—that might give them away. All of this and much more is why I am very careful as to whom I invite into my comfort zone, my home.

Overall, I’m a pretty good judge of character. Many people get filtered through my twelve-point process of vampire detecting. Only a few receive a thick wall of garlic sunlight that bursts from my abdomen and burns down their defenses. Those pretty smiles and charismatic personalities are no match for my penetrating stare that digs deep below their surface and discovers their soullessness.

My vampire-detecting super power should not be taken lightly. It is an intense understanding of the psyche. I’ve only enhanced my talent because I was burnt—more than once.

I’m not going to take up your time in explaining all the different and hurtful ways I’ve been bitten in the jugular, burnt by garlic, and stabbed with a wooden stake. Let’s be honest, does it really matter anymore?

Those days are long ago, most of which I was probably exhibiting my own vampire-like tendencies, and probably deserved some of the reciprocating behavior. But these are new days, filled with love? No. Maybe empathy? No. Maybe experience is the proper word. Either way, I’m really trying to be a good person; and like this blog’s concept, I sometimes fall short on, shall we say, goodness.

There’s a point to my story. Stay with me.

In the past few months, I’ve periodically met some new people and decided to put my possibly irrational vampire checklist to a rest. Maybe it’s time to put some of my odd, past experiences that hinder present life on hold, and take a risk? No. That’s not the right word. How about something more positive, like chance or even fate? Maybe I should stick to something less complicated, like roll the dice. Yes. I took a gamble and here’s what happened.  

First, I am not writing this with monster blood running through my veins; which means, the new visitors didn’t turn me to the dark side. Second, my house is still placed perfectly on its original foundation. Again, no fantastical tornadoes came through and moved my home to the Emerald Green Land. (Phew! Wipe my brow.) Third, my present friends don’t need to worry about being replaced by new and younger friends. We’re together until senility. And finally, my gamble paid decent dividends.

Since none of my new, potential friends ran away screaming, claiming a vampire invited them over only to suck their blood and drain them of their essence, then maybe I’m not a vampire either…I’m pretty sure.

The bottom line is that I’ve already learned a new lesson in the 20/20 visual year….

We don’t have to continue to live our lives as though everything bad that has already happened to us will continue to occur. Sometimes we just need to open our door to new possibilities because opportunities are infinite.