The Comfort of Stale Coffee

Well, this time I'll strike while the iron is hot.

It's a sunny, warm Saturday eve, a holiday weekend, July 2nd, 5:26 p.m.  I've just returned home, having unintentionally put the damper on a lovely, inviting party within 10 minutes after arriving.  I now feel rather like a child who's been assigned to "the dunce chair" -- except that no human being assigned me here.  My family is still at the party.  I'm . . . . here.

So what, exactly, conspired to send me to "the dunce chair?"

Well, it was a toss-up between the chlorine emanating from the truly gorgeous pool, the scented laundry products used, and the scented candles on the deck.  All combined, I see now that I didn't stand a chance.

Within those brief 10 minutes, my sinuses puffed up and my eye movements grew labored, with an unsettling, quickened pulse jiggling somewhat electrically behind my brow.  The overall feeling is something like the forehead and eye sockets thickening, and the rest of the feeling is very "neurologically afflicted" -- jittery head, spacey, dazed, wiped out, down for the count.  No "negotiated choice" remained today, there would be no ability to "ration" my time in different corners of the yard.  Today, there was simply nowhere to go and the reaction was fast and furious.

Driving home was difficult -- with "cement eyes" trying to maneuver against the glare of the sun.  Then the arrhythmias began.

All too much.

So here I sit in my easy chair, nursing a banana for the potassium but not very enamored of eating.  Maybe I'll try some stale coffee for the anti-inflammatory action of the caffeine.  Then, most likely, the trusty old ibuprofen to deal with the fulminating migraine lurking behind the "cement eyes."

Ah . . . just heated up the coffee.  Stale though it is, it does pick up the spirits. 

Here's to taking comfort in the little things --.

Cheers!   :-)

~ Carolyn