Gassed in church again (arrrghhhh)

[Guest guest]

Got gassed Sunday morning at church once more. It all started on

the walkway again ... this woman carrying a baby in front of me must

have poured the whole bottle of perfume on herself. The poor baby

looked comatose.

Inside I could smell the stuff in the air everywhere, kind of like a

fog. Winter's setting in and the doors and window to the church are

closed and no A/C blowing fresh air in.

Half way through the sermon I knew I had to do something so I got up

and went to the back doorway to the entrance foyer and stood there

in the doorway. Don't you know some usher woman comes over and

stands beside me ... must have thought I was another usher ... and

gassed me some more.

Pretty much ruined my day. Two puffs of Albuterol helped a little

but I had to sleep it all off. Bye bye to what could have been a

pleasant day if people would stop stinking themselves up with

noxious chemicals.

Now that I'm not reacting to the usual suite of allergens I'm

becoming much more aware of the role fragrances have been playing in

messing up my life. Not the natural stuff like flowers, which I

love to smell, but the chemical stuff like perfumes and

deordorizers.

One really big problem is most people just can't comprehend how

odors so slight they can't even detect them mess me up so bad.

That includes my wife but way back 30 years when I met her she

believed in being natural with no makeup and no perfume and still to

this day she won't touch the stuff which is great. Until I met her

many relationships went on the rocks real fast over fragrances.

Still, she never totally grasps how I smell such tiny amounts of the

fragrances and react so strongly to them. And I don't even discuss

the problem with others because they'll just think I'm a wacko.