My Life in a Jar # 3

What was your most embarrassing moment?
As soon as I read this I knew immediately what I would write about. When Kim was about 6, Jen was 4, and Alanna was just tiny, Mare Island had an open house to show off a submarine. Dad was sure we needed to go so the girls and I could see and experience what it's like to be on a sub. (since he was working on one at that time) When we arrived, there was a long line of others waiting to go into the sub. We had about a 2 hr. wait for our turn, which consisted of Dad and I arguing about who was going to go down with the girls since Alanna was to small. I really didn't want to go because of being claustrophobic, but Dad insisted. About 30 minutes before our turn the girls started dancing like they had to go to the bathroom. Each time I asked them they said they didn't need to. They were too excited to see the submarine and they thought if they left the line to go to the bathroom they'd loose their space and not get to go. Just before it was our turn they really had to go. At this point I told them it was too late and I had given into Gary and knew I'd be the one taking them. (just because I got tired of fighting about it) Kim was old enough to climb down the ladder by herself but Jen wasn't. So Kim went down, then I climed down the first flight and reached up to get Jen,so I could hand her down to the sailor below. As I leaned over I heard a rip, I had split my pants. I could hear the sailor below chuckle. I really wanted to climb back out and say forget it. However my two girls were already there so I just had to buck up and go down. I had one walk in front of me and the other had to stay behind me. It seemed like there were 1000's of people in the sub, even though I knew there wasn't. We were crammed in like sardines and I was getting light headed and having a hard time breathing. I know that the girls didn't enjoy it because my only thought at the time was how can I get out of this place alive and breathing. As we climbed back up, Gary took one look at me and knew he'd made a mistake insisting on me going. Besides feeling like I was going to die I had split my pants and can still hear the sailor chuckle. WOW! I lived to tell about it and can even laugh about it now. Gary now listens when I say I can't go into closed in spaces or if I start to panic he understands that I really can't help it. I know it's something that makes no sense. Logically I know I'll be OK but when the panic hits my logical brain shuts down and the tears start flowing as I struggle to breath.