Member-only story
Awaking is a pause these days. Not the full-body stretch, wide yawn, and ready-for-motion exercise it once was. No, a long morning pause is my new not-normal.
First, I survey my breathing and congestion. I have allergies. This year, our North Florida spring started the first of January and is still an April work-in-progress peppered with late winter and early summer days. Bushes and trees that normally bloom once have done so multiple times, painting pollen like a thick sickly-green paint over everything. A car washed at 9 am looks unwashed by 10:30. Lawn, patio, and porch furniture must be wiped down before sitting, even if they were cleaned a few hours earlier. Springtime clouds of pollen are normal for us but not for three months going on four.
Most mornings of my life and in spite of a nighttime allergy pill, I awoke with congestion — so normal for me that I can’t remember what that normal felt like. Now, I must try to remember so I can compare it to the possibility of very abnormal virus symptoms.
Was my nose this congested/runny before the new not-normal? Did I always have a pillow of phlegm in my throat when I woke up? In the days of old normal, did I want to cough upon waking as I do now?
Are these symptoms old normal or new not-normal?
