Allergic

I don’t have a thing to write about today. It’s a very busy week, and there’s a ton going on in the world, and I’m doing things and reading things but I don’t have any idea what to say about any of it. But does this stop me? No, it does not. I write every day. This is a day, so I’m writing. 

I don’t really like to publish trash, of course, but when you write every day, there’s bound to be a certain quantity of bilge. There’s going to be some chaff amid the wheat. It’s part of the process. 

*****

Sometimes when I’m wandering through Barnes and Noble, as I did one day last week with my mom, I take photos of books that I want to read. Sometimes they’re books that I’ve never heard of, and other times they’re books that have been in the back of my mind for ages. So if nothing else, I’ll have plenty of books to write about. 

*****

It’s the weekend before Memorial Day. Last night (Friday) I was on my way to my 5:30 PM hair appointment when my phone’s emergency alarm started to sound. It had already started to rain and the thunder cracked just as the alarm started shrieking so I thought a tornado was about to hit. We don’t typically see tornadoes in Montgomery County, Maryland; but that’s the thing about Maryland weather - untypical is typical. There’s always some damn thing. 

The sky went from gray to darker gray to almost black in a matter of moments and the rain came down suddenly, heavily in an almost-blinding downpour. I was almost at the shopping center where the hair place is located so I wasn’t worried about driving. I sat in my car for a few minutes after I parked, just watching the rain come down and watching people waiting it out underneath awnings and overhangs. It was just about 5:30, time for my appointment, so I made a run for it a few feet across the parking lot and was soaked from head to toe when I walked in the door. But it was fine. The nice lady who owns the salon handed me some nice dry towels, and my hair was about to be washed and cut anyway.  The rain stopped almost as abruptly as it started. The sun was even out when I left, but it was that volatile, uncertain, mid-summer thunderstorm sunshine, and the rain started again as soon as I arrived home. I had no plans and nowhere I needed to be, and it was nice to have my soaking wet clothes as a perfect excuse to put on pajama pants and a t-shirt at 6:30 PM. 

*****

The last four weekends have been more work than work. So I had planned to rest a little bit this weekend. But my husband is building a crazy pergola thing in our backyard and he needed help yesterday so I spent Saturday holding up beams and picking up nuts and bolts and caddying tools. It could have been far worse because my husband fell off the ladder at one point, crashing into the table and chairs (luckily we were already planning to replace them) and tearing his shorts to shreds. Had the table and chairs not been right where they were, the day would have ended in the emergency room. But that man bounced right up and got back on that stupid ladder and kept going until we had the frame assembled and in place. He never even took a moment to change his shorts. I’m usually absolutely terrible at DIY projects but I was legitimately helpful with this project. But I’m out of the building trades now. It’s Sunday, and a beautiful day, and my plans do not include manual labor. 

*****

My husband kept going with the crazy pergola project on Sunday, but it was a solo effort. Both of the boys were away, and I was smart enough to stay away from the backyard. We did the hard part on Saturday anyway, so he didn’t really need my help. The part that required muscle is done. By the way, if you’re doing a job that requires muscle and I’m your first pick, then you probably need to re-evaluate some of your choices. That’s not the best match between skills and requirements, know what I mean? I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. 

I approached this whole build a pergola idea with considerable skepticism even before I got roped into serving as casual labor. Why do we need this, I thought? Is being outside not the whole point of being outside? But I’m coming around now. We also poured a new concrete patio a few weeks ago, to replace and expand the very small old one, and the pergola frame surrounding the pretty new furniture on the clean new patio creates a very welcoming effect, and it will be nice to have the roof for shade and shelter against light rain so that we can sit outside more often. The sides of the thing will remain open and it will be like having our own private park pavilion. 

*****

I’m on day 5 of a 6-day course of prednisone, after my own little emergency medical visit on Friday. I’d been outside on Thursday evening for a bit and I woke up on Friday morning with swollen, itchy eyes, a rash on my face, and generalized itching all over. When a Benadryl didn’t help and hydrocortisone cream didn’t help and the itching got worse, I went to urgent care so that I’d be in a medical setting in case I ended up in anaphylaxis. I’m much better now, though I still don’t know what caused it. I haven’t eaten anything, worn anything, or used any products, or done anything at all different from what I always do. The doctor said that I might have come into contact with something outdoors, or it might just be a random idiopathic occurrence. Let’s just hope that I’m not allergic to our backyard now that we’re making it nicer.