double dose

There's nothing more beautiful than a double dose of something beautiful.  And there's nothing more frustrating or painful than a double dose of something frustrating or painful.

Sunsets in colors of deep orange and coral and rose can be breathtaking.  You want to breathe it in and hold onto before it fades into night.  When that sunset is reflected so that you get a double dose, it can sometimes be so overwhelming that it's more than you can absorb.  I have seen sunsets reflected on water - lake, pond, river, ocean (actually, gulf) many times in my life.  A new experience for me is a sunset reflected in the glass and steel of multiple buildings, which can also be a magnificent site.  In the city, I see that sometimes from my balcony - when I can't actually view the sunset on the western horizon, but know its beauty from the reflections in buildings near me.  Last Friday, driving home from work, I headed east on the Ike (I290) and saw such a sunset in my rear view.  As I approached downtown, the tall buildings along the Chicago skyline were afire, reflecting the colors of the sunset.  The Willis tower, Trump, and others shown gold and red just for a moment and were more beautiful than I'd ever seen.  One of those moments when I wished I could pull over and capture the sight - but traffic was heavy, and my camera was sitting at home.  I took a snapshot in my head of both views, the rear and forward so I keep it even though I can't share.

For the past few weeks, I've struggled with allergies.  My sinuses drain down my throat and nose, causing constant sniffing and ahem-ing.  It's aggrevating, but Allegra keeps things pretty much under control.  Something new, however, is I seem to be afflicted with an allergic reaction in my eyes.  Not so much in as around, with itching and swelling of the skin above and below my eyes - redness, bagginess, scaliness, and all-around ugliness.  It comes and goes at odd times, and I'm starting to think I've developed an allergy to either a food or environmental irritant.  Two weeks ago, I was on a cruise ship, doing fine (after my luggage finally arrived, but that's another story) until the final evening.  After dinner, the skin around my eyes started burning and itching, and swelling - one little welt was particularly visible.  Thinking back over what I had eaten, the shrimp seemed a likely culprit.  My dad developed a sudden seafood allergy when he was around my age, so it makes sense.  I dosed up with Benedryl and Allegra over the weekend, and by Monday was all better.

Yesterday, I walked the several blocks to my massage place, enjoyed my monthly kneading of knots, and walked back, stopping off for some breakfast.  When I got home, the itching, burning, and swelling started up again.  There was no seafood in the skillet concoction I had eaten, so whether it was food or something in the air, or the oil the massage therapist uses, I can't say.  The skillet contained eggs, potatoes, cheese, peppers and onions.  Nothing that I can really relate to the dinner on the ship.  Dairy?  Olive oil?  Peppers??

My double dose of allergy symptoms is driving me a bit looney, but more importantly, is painful and mysterious.  Seems I'm always coming up with something oddball that warrants a visit to the doctor.  Maybe it's time to see an allergist and find out what it is that I can't eat or do without consequences.  Having enjoyed a fairly allergy-free life so far, other than the usual spring and fall pollens, I consider myself lucky in comparison to those that suffer from birth with dairy, nuts, and other such allergies that will affect them for all of their life.

There are worse double doses - losing loved ones in multiples, being out of work and out of a home, crashing your car and being injured, or causing pain for someone else, which causes pain for yourself.  But there are good double doses too - having your cake and eating it too, reading a good book that has a sequel, enjoying a movie along with someone's company, chocolate-filled chocolate.  Loving and being loved back.  Life regularly hits us with multiple doses of both positive and negative, and our hope is that the positive comes out on top in the end.