The next time I do a Thursday Thirteen, I may have to list out all the things I’m allergic to. Surely after tonight’s discovery, I have enough to fill out the list? Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating, but it sure feels that way. One of my favorite foods is no longer edible.

We babysat tonight in exchange for some fresh crab from a local crab bake a lot of people from Chris’ work was attending. I figured it was fair, I love crab… and they promised to be back on time. They were, and they brought back plenty of crab for us to share. Even though I’d already eaten dinner and dessert, I went ahead and grabbed some legs for myself.

Ahh, cracking that crab with my bare fingers brought back many memories of sitting downstairs in the Pike Place Market, stripping newspaper off a fresh crab…and digging in with nothing but my fingers and the company of my friends or family. It was something I had to save for most of the time… but it was always worth it. You could look up and see a giant bronze squid, the smell of fish and fresh produce was overwhelming, and even down the stairs to the eating area you could feel the breeze coming in off the bay.

The memories faded rapidly once my fingers started to turn red, my mouth swelled and started to itch, my muscles grew heavy, and my head fuzzy. I’m allergic to crab. Damn it! I managed to make Chris wake up and roll out of bed… and we went to the store and got some meds (my breathing wasn’t compromised, I wasn’t going to the hospital) and I’m slowly starting to feel normal again… no, normal is a lie. I’m pissed. This is something like my 5th food allergy or intolerance…it doesn’t seem fair that they can just spring up on you after years like this.