My Bubble

We all have it.  Some people's bubble are more pronounced.  Some...well, okay.  Not everyone has one.  I'm talking that space around you in which no one must infringe.  My Grandma Curtis's is a rather large bubble.  You can just see the uncomfortable tenseness in her face (and feel it in her whole body) as you hug her.  Then there's a cousin I have where everytime I see her (it's been...wow!  5 years) she comes towards you with a full body hug.  That's when I turn into my grandmother.  I hug back..that's the thing you're supposed to do.

You see this box?  Consider it my personal bubble.  When people get closer than that, I feel the muscles in my body start going rigid.  What am I supposed to do?  Do I tactfully back up?  Do I turn my head and pretend to be distracted by a child running down the hall?  Do I pretend that that child is actually mine?  All this is running through my head while none of conversation with my bubble invader is being absorbed. 

Another space invader?  Someone in my yard.  A couple kids were "cutting" through the field across the street to me.  It would cut 10 minutes off their walk to the river.  They were caught by a neighbor who gave them a stern reprimand and those kids sulked away.  Keep in mind, this is an unused field.  Growing up on quite a large range, there were many strangers who desired to "test our waters" or hunt for wild animals (the only thing wild on our property were the kids), or see what was up the mountain.  Anytime someone stepped foot onto our property, I would again feel the muscles in my body start going rigid.  I glued myself to a window, with the phone in my hand, ready to call whatever authorities that could take care of this trespasser. 

Humans are a funny thing.  My husband doesn't quite get my issues.  But, like most animals in the kingdom, we have our territories.  And while I haven't "marked" it so to speak, don't think that my claws won't come out if need be.