Seven Year Itch

I'm not "outdoorsy."  We all know that.  Some if it is by choice...I don't appreciate being sweaty, sticky and stinky.  I'm afraid of pretty much anything with wings including bugs, birds and bats.  (And planes, but that's another subject entirely!)  I like to shower at least daily in a clean, private bathroom.  I don't like it when I break a nail.

Some of it, on the other hand, is completely beyond my control--the result of losing at the genetic lottery, I guess.  I'm allergic to just about everything there is outside, including being deathly allergic to grass.  Year-round you will find something to trigger my allergies.  I'm also extremely allergic to mosquitoes, which I knew from an early age, but it has just gotten worse with time, instead of better which is the norm.  Welts the size of half dollars that itch so badly, and so painfully, I've been known to take a lit cigarette and burn them because that hurt less and made the itching stop. 

The sun is another thing that my body doesn't particularly like.  Besides reacting badly in general by burning easily and often, even with sunscreen, my skin also likes to mutate into little balls of evil cells that eventually turn into cancer.  If I'd have known this as a child, I might have been more careful in the sun, but it seemed early on I had my Mom's ability to tan, but that was just a trick like my blonde hair was, too.

There are times when I crave outdoor activities, wanting to be like the "normal kids," and just go outside to play!  Then there are times like today, when a brief stint outdoors made me so physically ill that all I can do is sleep for days at a time, in an antihistamine-induced coma until the discomfort subsides.  So, next time someone says that aren't outdoorsy don't make fun of them or tease them right away.  They may have legitimate concerns, just thinking about the issues that will arise from just a few minutes in the sun.