So, I was home from church a second Sunday in a row because of these damned seasonal allergies. I spent much of yesterday, a beautiful Saturday, on the couch, exhausted. I fought off a sinus infection last week that came out of my allergies, and now I’m back to plain old allergies, which make my bones feel like rubber, and make me feel like I don’t have the strength to do much more than go from the bed to the couch, with a stop-off at the coffee pot. I went to dinner with friends on Friday night, and thought a corner had been turned, but Saturday was miserable (had to cancel a couple of planned meetings with other friends), and today looks like more of the same. It never ends. Yesterday I spoke to a local woman who said that her husband and son have been poleaxed by the stuff. “I have never seen it this bad around here,” she said. People keep telling me that: that the pollen and other allergens in the air around the Delaware Valley this season is the worst in ages.

I think this week I’m going to have to find a doctor and go see him. I’ve been fighting this stuff for a month now. I told Julie this morning that I’ve never thought much about what chronic fatigue syndrome does to people, but being tired almost all the time from these allergies, which I’ve never before experienced, really makes me sympathetic. I’d just gotten started on my tai chi classes, but I haven’t been in two weeks at least, because by the end of the workday all I want to do is lie down and wait for bedtime. I have a friend in New York City who suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome, and though I don’t often see him, in e-mails he’s often talking about how it affects his life. I guess I never really considered what life must be like for him till now. His chronic fatigue sounds significantly worse than what I’m dealing with, but I tell you, it’s no fun to wake up from a good night’s sleep and to be worn out, feeling fit for nothing more strenuous than making coffee. I thought seasonal allergies were only about sneezing and coughing. Shows what I knew.