A Brand New Day

The morning rays are easing through the folds of the bedroom curtain. Pulling the covers over my head, I press the snooze button in my head. Just five more minutes before throwing on my comfy robe … and rubbing the stardust from my eyes. My eyes bloom open as I spring up, throwing aside the warm blankets. Time to heed the calling of a fresh morning, taking on all the things I must and hope to do.

The blue-sky morning is beaconing. Fresh possibilities await, situations to embrace and commandeer. Yes, its’s a brand-new day.

But first, the best part. Breakfast. Slipper-clad toes slide and swoop efficiently. In moments, the scent of bold coffee and sweet raisin toast swirl in the air. Filling my favorite mug to the top, I reach for the toast and homemade strawberry jam … when it begins.

First, there is the tickle in my throat yielding to a scratchy feeling. The nose begins to twitch as a deep breath expands to a deafening sneeze, then to another and another. Eyes grow red and swollen as tears spill from their corners. The earth begins to shake and coughing follows sounding like a backfiring pick-up truck.

Now, to get to work. Ugh.

I’m still sniffling and choking as I enter the building such that eyebrows arch and workers are throwing open windows, sticking out their heads. I probably should have brought a face mask. Its a full-blown allergy attack! Not the best beginning to a new day.

Along with my coffee sits a giant tissue box and daily ration of over-the-counter meds. Just what am I allergic to? Grass. Mold. Perfume. Flowers. The metal in my hip replacement. And it probably includes the very walls surrounding me.

Certainly, love for mornings is not reciprocated by my maturing body. How did I get this way? Could I have taken the wrong vitamins?  Was I abducted by aliens as a kid on those evenings when I would telescope the sky?

 Flashbacks to the past etch like a patina-coated photograph. Playing in the basement surrounded by piles of coal clumps ready for heaving into the furnace; blackened embers floating thorough the house piling in layers over every surface. Or could it have been the heavy puffing of cigarettes and cigars from my parents?

 Hmm … as a teenager, I visited my grandma’s house next door. A lot. She would perch in the widow’s roost and take one smoke after another or sit with me at table puffing.  She took up smoking at seventy-five.

One Christmas, I watched as family members piled a stack of holiday wrapped cigarette cartons before Grandma. Her face beamed as she ripped off the paper and loaded her apron pockets. I really thought she must have owned a tobacco field somewhere. But you got it.  I was hit hard with secondary smoke. Yet I must admit, I never smoked.

Fast-forward to last Fall, I had been waiting for just the right day. No rain. Warm breezes. Moderate humidity. I seized the brush, lacquer, newspapers and headed out to the front yard fence. The once lovely wooden stain had discolored and looked sadly weathered. On rainy days, water no longer repelled and beaded up. Instead, it soaked into the wood without mercy. The fence was ready for this loaded paintbrush.

I lifted the brush and halted. Leaning on the fence, giant waves of sneezes overtook me. Eyes swelled and teared, etching through the grime on my cheeks. Then, seemingly endless coughing began. Now distracted and dizzy, wary thoughts were yelling … stop! Just go in the house, wash up and have a nice lunch.

Time to figure things. Certainly, I was not alone with such allergic reactions. There are other people with such aversions and even more troublesome physical conditions. Is the answer waving the flag of surrender?  Hmm …perhaps. But a time-out to reconsider and fortify effort can be a better choice.

Dousing my face with cool water and downing a refreshing glass of lemonade, I was readied again. Picking up the brush, I painted and coughed, and sneezed until the fence held the glossy varnish and stood proud. 

It had been a great, brand-new day.

… “and that’s how I live it.”

Postscript:  It’s March … time to celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. Enjoy family and friends. Be safe.