Day 20 - Invaders

"Hey, my sister's friend won tickets to tonight's Sox game. Do you mind if I go?"

"No," I said, "Have a good time." This gave me a chance to flip through my contacts to see who I could call to hang out. I used to have a huge issue with making my partner my life and I've worked really hard to overcome this. With that said, I do try to respect the need for couple time, and so I fit in friends around our schedule on a regular basis. "I'm gonna make plans then, so I'm not sitting at home just waiting for you."

"Cool! Have a good time tonight."

"You too!"

I called up a friend - Milo - who had just received some great news earlier in the day. She was free, so we decided to go to dinner. We mulled over the decision of where to go. "Chinese!" I exclaimed, "I so rarely get to have Chinese food since The New Husband doesn't eat it. Let's go! I'll pick you up in about a half hour."

We went to this fabulous place in Reading. I love hanging out with Milo and picking her brain about things because while we think quite alike in a lot of ways, she's almost like my polar opposite in terms of the political spectrum and she always provides an interesting perspective. Also, it's nice to chat with someone who holds true to their beliefs without getting frustrated and just telling me I'm a "god damned liberal" - the nicest thing my Grandfather has probably said when we've debated. I digress.

The New Husband called around the fifth inning, "We're getting killed. It's 11-0 now. We're going to leave after 'Sweet Caroline'. See you soon!"

I came home and relaxed, perusing CNNMoney and Motley Fool. I'm serious when I say I want us to get out of debt and into our own home next year. Our lease is up in June. That's less than a year. I started itching. First it was my shin. Then, my elbow. Eventually I caught myself scratching my chest, my face and my opposite hand. "Shit," I said, "I must've eaten something to set off my allergies. Clearly, this post was never about the Swedish rock band, The Hives. Of course the best way I know to handle this is to write a post about it on Facebook.

I immediately started getting text messages and a call from my friend Nic. "I have Benadryll," she said. I made my way over to her place, popped two and waited there for them to kick in. Eventually, I made my way home, expecting The New Husband to walk in any minute. By 11pm he still wasn't home. I'd sent him a text two hours earlier about the allergic reaction, with no response.

I called. "Where are you?"

"We're at Kenmore now. We stayed til the end. I'll be home soon."

I have no idea what time he actually got home because I finally passed out from the Benadryll. I vaguely remember him saying something about a power outage on our train line and him kissing me goodnight and tucking me in.

I tend to downplay the severity of incidences like these. However, it wasn't that long ago that literally everything I ate sent me to the Urgent Care center for epinephrine shots and the doctors told me that if I came back, they were going to put me on steroids. No thank you! With that said, I have had issues where allergic reactions have gotten so bad that I've had my throat start to close and then it gets really dangerous. Nic kept asking me if I was feeling okay, was it getting any better or worse, and I was just trying to keep myself calm enough to not make it so bad that I'd have to go to the hospital.

This morning, I said, "I'm kinda bummed that you stayed for the whole game. I don't know what happened with that text, but it all worked out in the end."

"I know, I'm sorry. I wanted to leave, but you know how it goes."

I've tried taking it easy today, eating food that I know aren't irritating. I've still got a few itches here and there, so I'll follow up with some more Benadryll tonight.