The Trip - Bug Bites

It had to have happened at my mom's high school reunion, when I was wearing a dress and strappy shoes, but the effects didn't show up until last night.

My calves started itching, which can happen sometimes when the air gets really dry and sucks all the moisture from the skin on my shins. But it wasn't my shins that itched. When I checked, I had two mosquito bites on my left leg, two bites on my right leg (one of them the size of a dime), and one on the top of my right foot (which I keep inside sneakers almost all the time, so that was how I knew when the bites happened).

Bugs have always liked to bite me. And all my life I've been told not to scratch the bug bites, because it only makes it worse. And I would scratch them anyway, because, who can help it?

But the last time I got bad-bug-bit, I decided to follow the advice and not touch it. The bite remained red and raw, with the like-new, crazy-making itch for three days, when I finally gave in and scratched. After that, the bite didn't bother me as much.

So this time, with both legs involved, I tried an experiment. Last night, as the sheets brushed against the bites, making them exuded their cry for scratching, I only gave in on the right leg. I kept the left leg untouched by me (the sheets kept touching).

This morning, I find that the right (scratched) leg is much less insistent when it itches. That dime-sized bite and its behind-the-knee buddy on the left leg keep screaming at me. Which leads me to the conclusion that scratching (not excessively, of course) will lessen the suffering of the unfortunates souls who have fallen prey to the blood-sucking hordes.

Just thought you should know.