Day 194

I would not consider myself accident prone, but I've had to call my wife before when dealing with a more serious health issue. I may have walked into a window when I worked at the zoo and needed staples in my head. I may have dropped a table on my big toe while preparing to clear out our garage when we moved. And this time around, I may have found something I am seriously allergic to. My nurse wife told me exactly what to do. I actually listened this time and started to feel some sense of relief but the swollen eyes and itchy throat were here to stay. For about twenty-four hours, my eyes remained puffy and itchy. 

But worse than the allergic reaction was the wasted time. Preparing for our FMP writer’s visit, I had made a number of plans to get working on the land. None of these lands mentioned laying down and constantly holding cold compresses on massively swollen eyes.

When my body recovered, I was itching (pun intended) to get back to work. I wanted to continue developing our trail, make progress on our nature play area, and create a butterfly garden.

So much to do. 

The allergy attack not only slowed down my body, it made me realize I needed to slow down and prioritize projects rather than burn myself out trying to do everything right away. When mentally prioritizing what I could do efficiently and effectively, I decided to avoid working in the area I felt was responsible for my allergic reaction and instead work on something closer to home. 

Something I had received in the mail earlier that week made this even more important of a project. Earlier in the year, I had applied for and was awarded various pollinator-friendly plants per my involvement in a monarch conservation organization. After getting awarded these plants, I was told they would arrive in mid-June, ready for planting.

Their arrival was right on time. Not only did I need to put these plants in the ground sooner than later, this was a project I could tackle in my somewhat weakened state while I waited for our FMP to be created.