My scary movie isn't one that most people would probably choose: It's Jaws.

From the time I was a little girl, I was afraid of fish. If I even saw a goldfish on TV, I would run out of the room. I tried snorkeling one time in St. Thomas but almost walked on water to get back to dry land when the instructor's fin accidentally touched my leg underwater. (The thought of a fish touching me was way too much to bear.)

Jaws came out when I was 16. Since drive-in movies were still in style then, my friend and I went to our local drive-in to see the movie. I spent almost the entire movie sitting backwards in the front seat, occasionally turning around to see what was happening on the screen.

Could there be anything more terrifying than swimming in the ocean and have something eat you while you thrash and scream? I can't think of much that could be worse than that. Whenever I think of Jaws, I think about that poor woman being tossed around in the water while God-knows-what was going on underneath. Ugh. I know she was fictional, but because the image plays into a primal fear of mine, it really stuck.

I'm better about my fear of fish now, but I still make sure I have a pillow handy if Jaws is on; I never know when I'll need to hide my eyes.