I am not going to lie.  I have not felt like writing at all lately.  I have had a rough few months, both with the constant pain, the snow in April (what is that about, by the way?), and medication changes.  Med changes suck.  There is no other way to put it.  I am weaning off of neurontin.  Fun.  Really.  I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in February, and put on it to reduce neuropathy.  Well, I gained a huge amount of weight.  So off I come.  The good thing is that I am already losing weight.

But I do not want to go into that today.  I want to talk about something so random, it is funny to me.  Scented markers.  Yep- those god-awful things that send many of us with migraines into pain and whatever else goes on with our headaches. 

Last night we went to Target to grab some life essentials.  Always fun.  Well, not really, but you know what I mean.  So we got what we needed and my daughter decided that she needed markers.  OK, fine.  So we looked at the marker selection, and being four, she picked the package with the most pinks and purples.  Which was fine.  After shopping, we went to our favorite diner for dinner.  All four of us are sick—the kids both have ear infections, and my husband and I both have sinus infections, so comfort food was perfect last night.

As my daughter, R, pulled out her new markers, I noticed that there were scented markers in the bunch.  Great.   All I could think was that I would get to be the bad guy and remove the offensive markers from the pack, upsetting a sick kid who just wants to draw.  Ugh.  She was happy as a clam.  Scribbling and drawing away, telling us about what she was doing.  And then it hit me—she was drawing with the scented markers.  I was not gagging.  How could this be?  So I sniffed them.  All six.  I can report that they are pleasantly scented.  And not overpowering like the scented markers when I was young.  For the record, they are the Crayola Washable Markers with Silly Scents.

This got me thinking of all of the other normal kid stuff that my kids do not get.  Lunch meats, Lunchables, American cheese, processed foods, visits to places that serve pizza along huge ball pits and noise.  Amusement parks, even though I love roller coasters.   Scratch and sniff books and stickers, and scores of other things that can not come into the house or be done because of mom's head.  But, is that really so bad?  Lunch meat, processed foods, and all that are not so great for kids.  Processed foods in general are not good for anyone.  My son, Z, is autistic, so places with lots of stimulation and noise can be hard on him, especially if he is having a bad day.  Scented things can be easily avoided, and again, can set off Z if it’s at the right/wrong time.  Amusement park visits, well, I am sure those will happen.  Locally.  Small rides.  Or roller coasters.  I do love them, I am just afraid of them, and the possibility of triggering a migraine, or making a low-level one worse.  I am sure I will get past that once the kids get older.