When my wife and I went on a Mediterranean cruise I had some memories
dredged up on the excursions.
My father had spent 20 years in the Air Force. During his time in the
military he travelled to foreign countries and did lots of amazing
things. And he experienced some of the bad things out there. He never
said he had his pockets picked but as I got older he would always warn
me about pick pockets.
As a teenager I got my driver's license at 16. This meant I carried my
wallet with me every day in case I got to drive. Both my mother and my
father repeatedly warned me about the dangers of pick-pockets and how
carrying my wallet in my back pocket like so many people do was just
an invitation to have my wallet stolen. They even encouraged me to
carry my wallet in my front pants pocket so if someone tried to steal
my wallet I'd feel them doing it!
All of this talk about pick-pockets instilled a deep fear of losing my
wallet in me. To this day I carry a smaller wallet and keep it in my
front pants pocket, though recently I've started wearing a fanny pack
again and I tend to put my wallet in it.
Fast forward to our cruise. Each of our tour gudes warned that it was
"pick pocket season" and they encouraged us to secure our wallets and
passports from pick-pockets. They even strongly suggested that if we
were carrying a backpack that we should carry it in front of our body
so that no one could steal stuff out of the backpack without us seeing
them trying.
While I'm glad that I am prepared for this sort of thing it still
dredged up that old fear that my parents instilled in me.
Weird.
