Mar 12 2006
I want to be Claritin Clear, too!
I have allergies.
They aren’t that bad anymore, but for 10 years, we had cats. I fell in love with a man who loved his cats, and I said “Sure, let’s give it a try!” so he moved in with his 2 cats. We tried all sorts of allergy products, sprays and shampoos. Those didn’t work. We tried allergy products on me, which worked better but left me feeling all mediciney (there I go, making up words again).
We moved the cats to the basement. That helped but not much. When I look at video from those 10 years, it’s always me narrating and filming, all snuffly and nasaly. Man, I sounded awful.
We moved to a new home in 2002 and made the decision that the cats weren’t coming, for the sake of my health.
The change in me was immediate and radical. I know my husband was sad to have to let the cats go, but in retrospect, it was right for me, my health.
But this post isn’t about cats, it’s about allergies. They hit me yesterday like a ton of bricks. Most of the time, they stay dormant. Unless, you know, I’m frolicking in fields of ragweed.
Or cleaning my house.
So now you know one of the reasons I EMBRACE THE FILTH. Cleaning sets off my allergies something fierce.
But yesterday we were getting furniture delivered. Bedroom furniture. Me, 41 years old - I now finally have a BEDROOM SET for the first time in my adult life. I think this means I’m officially a grown-up. I mean, yeah, of course we had a bed with a headboard and we bought the armoire 10 years ago, but we couldn’t afford the dresser and chest so we didn’t buy those. So we had a place for the TV and the Nintendo (the armoire) but we kept our socks and underwear in laundry baskets, mostly, because we had NO DRAWER SPACE.
Last week, knowing that the furniture was coming, we began to clean up and rearrange. We moved the bed to a different wall (and now I’m forced to sleep on the wrong side all so Bill can protect the cave or something) and stirred up a lot of dust.
I like my dust SETTLED. It doesn’t bother me much when it’s settled. We peacefully coexist, the dust and I. But stir it up? It turns into malevolent airborne forces capable of knocking me on my ass. I took two different kinds of medicine yesterday and it wasn’t enough to get rid of the sniffling, sneezing, watery eyes and all the rest (the rest mostly being my bad attitude).
Last night, I dreamt I was Claritin Clear… I was in the middle of a field of tall grass and wild flowers. I bet there was ragweed but since I have no idea what ragweed looks like, I can’t be positive. There I was, a slender size 8 with long blond hair (hey, shut up! it’s MY dream!) and my easel was set up where I was painting the delicate flowers with watercolors. A butterfly lands on my shoulder and I laugh - a hardy laugh - as the butterfly flutters away. I look up toward the sun and take in a deep breath through my nose. Ah! To draw a breath amongst the flowers and grasses and all the pollen in the air. It’s good to be alive (not to mention size 8 and blond). Everything was so bright and clear….
And then I woke up. And sneezed.
Damn allergies.
I’m never frolicking amongst the ragweed again. And that’s the last time I do heavy cleaning in my house. I’m hiring someone to come clean every week so I can avoid the damn allergies.
Poke me with a fork - I’m DONE.
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