Gilligan's Island Syndrome

What is Gilligan’s Island Syndrome?

That’s a good question. When I was a 10-year-old boy, I took swimming lessons at the Kearns Pool. I was a little older than the rest of the kids in my class. I think I had a little more fear of the water, that the younger kids in my class who didn’t realize that the water could be dangerous. I still remember the swimsuit I wore to those swimming lessons. It was a pair of red swim trunks, with white piping.

Each time I got ready to go to swimming lessons, I would get a knot in my stomach because I was so nervous about having to swim (and not drown) in the pool. I think I inherited some of this fear of the water from Grandpa Hatch, who wasn’t too comfortable with swimming either.

Each day, as the time of my swimming lesson would approach, the knot in my stomach would grow. As it so happened, Gilligan’s Island would just be coming on TV, just as it was getting to be time to leave for my swimming lesson. After a period of time, I began to associate the Gilligan’s Island theme song, with the knot in my stomach.

Even today, more than 35 years later, I still get a knot in my stomach when I hear the Gilligan’s Island theme song!

“Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, . . . .” Noooooooooooo!!

Eventually, I overcame my fear of the water, and actually came to love swimming. I actually liked watching Gilligan's island, but I could have done without the knot in my stomach.

Tell me now, is this a psychosomatic illness, or what?