Summertime and the Sneezin’s Easy

I was “lucky” enough to catch my first summer cold in several years. I’d nearly forgotten how annoyingly irksome the symptoms are. My first hint of the disease started on Friday with a tickle in my throat and sneezing. I shrugged it off as intensifying symptoms of my allergies. I thought allergies were inevitable because I was doing more outdoor work and mowing. Alas, that was not to be. The tickle in my throat progressed into intermittent bouts of coughing. Soon, my nose began to run and the congestion moved into my chest. What joy! The collection of mucus caused me to hack and cough to clear my throat and airway. With my nose partially blocked, I sometimes took a breath through my mouth. The open-mouthed breathing dried my airway and increased the tickle, sparking more coughing setting of fires in my chest.

I know there are multiple symptom relieving medications, but with my history of hypertension, I must use them carefully and judiciously or risk a stroke. So instead, I sneeze and wheeze like an old puffer-Billy freight train sitting at the station.

The title of today’s post is a perversion from a song in the American opera, “Porgie and Bess.”As a young kid, I watched the entire presentation on television and remembered it lovingly. The music was hauntingly captivating, especially “Summertime.” For several years I pestered my kids to get a copy for me as a birthday gift or Christmas present. Finally my wish came true and my beautiful memory dulled. I put the DVD into the player and the music swelled. It was still grand, but the theme of the opera was dark, so very dark. As a child I must have missed the story line enamored by the music and the voices of the singing. In my adult life, the music continued to flow through my brain at times, but the scenes of the opera had been lost or not recalled. My recollection was faulty and that beautiful memory has now been shattered. It does make a person wary of what they wish for.