Under the Weather

We’ve all heard someone say she is “under the weather,” and generally taken it to mean that she just doesn’t feel well. Until a few years ago, that is, when I began to notice that a couple of days before a cold front arrives I feel slightly sick at my stomach. I get a fierce headache and my joints hurt like the dickens. Finally I realized that the phrase “under the weather” should be taken literally. My pal Barbara is affected as well. Her symptoms are slightly different from mine, but both of our bodies know in advance that a weather change is coming.

I think the more apt phrase would be “before the weather,” because when the change arrives, Barbara and I feel much better. We feel bad not under the weather, but before the weather. On a beautiful, sunny, warm day like today I feel terrible and can’t enjoy it. A cold front will be whizzing in sometime tomorrow. Rain and snow are forecast. Tomorrow, when the weather is gloomy and chilly, I will be feeling chipper again.

Barbara and I certainly are not alone in our suffering, though. I’ve heard old war veterans remark, “My old wound is acting up. I think it’s going to rain.” I’ll bet athletes who have had injuries ache before weather changes, too. Anyone, in fact, whose body has been damaged will be affected as a cold front approaches. As for the headache and nausea symptoms, I’ve never heard anyone else talk about having them in connection with the weather, but I’ll bet some other people do.

Weather sickness has a potential up side for me because a cold front often brings some form of precipitation, preferably liquid. Rain is essential for successful gardening. If this is what I have to pay for a nice soaking rain, it’s worth going through. The odds are not favorable for that kind of precipitation, but what the heck, hope makes suffering tolerable.

Copyright 2014 by Shirley Domer