I don’t see the difference between having allergies and just being sick. As far as I’m concerned, the symptoms are the same, so it is pretty much the same thing.
I don’t know why allergies are such a big deal now. I guess people just want something to complain about. It has always been a big deal to athletes. Not that I’m saying that athletes have a right to complain about things more than the general population, but when you make your livelihood from sports and your body doesn’t allow you to perform up to its maximum level, then it seems okay to whine more. Athletes definitely seem to whine more about stupid stuff pertaining to how they feel. I definitely do.
My grandmother lived to 99 years old. I moved in with her when I was 12. She was 81. I never heard here say one word about feeling bad. Not one. She would be sick, break bones, etc. not one complaint.
One time she had fallen down and broke her wrist. She was in her 90’s by then. A week or two later, she asked me if I would look at her back because she was having trouble sleeping and thought maybe something was the matter. She only wore dresses, she never owned a pair of pants. So we unzipped her house dress, looked, and her back was a million shades of black and purple. It was unreal. So, we loaded her up and took her to the doctor. She had broken nearly all the ribs on one side of her back and maybe a couple others. I’ve broken ribs a few times in my life and I think it is one of the most painful bones to break. The healing process is so slow and any movement, laughter, coughing, just breathing exacerbates the pain. Her whole side of ribs were broken, but she never said a peep about pain.
Anyway, I’ve been hearing a ton on the news about how bad the allergies are because of this early spring, blooming throughout the country. I saw down in Georgia, that the pollen counts are at record highs and that they are 6X higher than a really bad year. That would not be a good place from me to be right now. I check out the pollen reports where ever I’m heading. Not that I’m going to avoid going there, but just the knowledge that there is a reason I might feel subpar is good.
The pollen counts here in Kansas are extremely high right now. Mainly tree pollen, which is bad for me. I started taking Zyrtec allergy stuff a couple days ago. I’ve never had much luck with pills for allergies, but at least mentally, I think I’m addressing some of the issue. It might be a long Spring for some of us this year. It is only March.
My grandmother and me.
Tree pollen every morning on the car.
Nice picture of great grandma and a great sweat shirt.
John
My nose runs when I ride my bike- almost all year ’round. Sometimes I wonder how my body can produce so much phlegm. I guess I could quit riding and stay inside due to my “allergies”. Yeah right.
Love the sweatshirt. Michael’s Cyclery (and Michael himself) was the best.
Grandmas are tough! The Michael’s sweatshirt bring back good memories. I remember a newspaper article framed in the shop titled “Steve Tilford just wants to race his bike badly.” Michael found that one hilarious!
And Michael added, “and he does.” to the end of the title.
As a fire fighter and responding to EMS calls in and around Lawrence, I can tell you it is my experience that my parents generation and beyond(60s and older) are ‘tougher’ in general. I also think that senior women are extremely tough when it comes to pain. Which makes it tougher to treat and just help them. I have always assumed it is the ‘giving birth’ effect. If you can go thru giving birth to a child, then everything else is easy.?.? I don’t know, I have just always thought that WWII and Korean War generation just had a tougher constitution you know…the children who were directly affected by the Great Depression or had parents who went thru it…well, they just seem to ‘get to it’ without a lot of whining or complaining. They just seem to handle the tough parts of life a lot more stoicly…I guess the word ‘Tough’ is the best word. They are or were tougher than their offspring, in my opinion. When I think back about my Grandparents, it’s easy to see that they had a lot more obstacles in their life than i did. I guess they are directly responsible for making my life easier. Jesus! Thanks Steve, I better go call my mom and thank her….and tell her that i wish i would have thought of it sooner and thanked my grandparents while i still had the chance. hmm, one grandma left, she won’t remember 30 seconds after hanging up the phone with me but i will go ahead and call her too. It is usually pretty circumspect reading this blog, dont know why am am so suprised.
Oh,one more thing. Your grandma was one TOUGH Lady!
So true, Steve. I don’t know if it is that generation or what, but I don’t ever recall any of my G-parents talking about a pain of any kind.
That is a wonderful pic of you two, the love you had for her shows.
Pollen?! I dream of pollen! Its 20 degrees where I live and there is still a foot of snow on the ground…. so be happy you can ride your bikes at all!
Looked down at my tires today & they looked yellow; had to wonder what my lungs are looking like.
One of my grandmothers was an absolute hypochondriac, she’d see a regular MD, an osteopath, and a chiropractor, all in the same week. She had a large round silver platter of various medicines that she’d have at the dinner table, about 10 inches in diameter. She lived to be 89, probably in spite of her medicines. Never worked a day in her life, and had a cook prepare all the meals from the day she turned 23 onwards.
My other grandmother was a Christian Scientist and took over the running of the LUCE Manufacturing company in 1932 when her husband died, and went into work every day, Monday to Saturday, at 8am until 5pm, for the next 41 years at age 79 when she could no longer get out of bed due to the advancement of her Parkinson’s disease, of which she died six years later…