Are your allergies bothering you? I showed up for my new calling yesterday without make-up, sounding completely congested, and with a hot washcloth semi-permanently attached to my right eye. It was the only way I could be stopped from rubbing my eyeball completely out of my skull. I'm not much of a medicine taker (constant drug references to the contrary), but by 3:30 yesterday I was begging for Claritin. It didn't even work last time, but I was so desperate - I was like, KIDS! BRING ME CLARITIN! (My allergies render me helpless. I'm sure you know the feeling.)
Of course, when the Claritin DOES work, it doesn't work right away. Brennan and Bella were then sent to the nearby store for chocolate. They brought back M&Ms, which soothed my itchy itchy mouth and took my mind off the river of slime sliding through my sinuses and the fact that the Cub Scouts would have to see their new Assistant Den Leader looking like utter doo-doo.
By the time Bunny came to get Harrison and me after Cub Scouts, I was a happy camper. Actifed always wiped me out and nothing else worked - but that Claritin did the trick. For the rest of the evening, I felt no pain and thought nothing but happy thoughts. I came home, sat down, let Bluebell make dinner and finished the crocheted washcloth I started yesterday afternoon. (A little-known side effect of Claritin is the sudden urge to crochet like mad.)
This was the kicker - when the ward Young Men came by to fetch Brennan's notebook to check on the address of a nearby less-active member, I did not retreat into my bedroom in a fit of embarrassed, "Holy crap, the living room just exploded and now Brothers B. and O. think I'm a terrible homemaker" anxiety. Oh, no. I was calm, I was relaxed, I was happily unsneezy, sitting in my mess surrounded by a jury of Brennan's peers.
And my family went to Taco Bell and brought me home a chalupa. All was well in Millie Zion.
Folks, there is indeed a "happy pill," and its name is Claritin ... and for the rest of the spring and summer, I will never again be without a pack of it somewhere on (or in) my person. That, and a big bag of M&Ms.