Missing You (Song for Hannah), part 2

(Continued from this post.)

Hannah is an adventurer. When I first met her, back in 1993, she’d just returned from the Peace Corps, having lived in Burundi for 3 years. She is currently working on her Ph.D. in public relations and mass communication. In 2005, she was offered the opportunity to do a summer internship in Cambodia.

She accepted. Now, those of you who read yesterday’s blog know immediately what I was worried about: the mysterious allergen that kept causing all those trips to the emergency room. Well, the latest allergist had given her some pills for the condition that helped somewhat, but more importantly, an Epipen. This is a self-contained, self-administered adrenaline injector, to be used in emergency cases of anaphylactic shock.

I suppose there are two ways to live your life if you have this condition: let it rule you, and stay cringing in your corner of the world; or live your life as you want to and deal with the problem when it occurs. Hannah chose the latter.

I am a middle school science teacher. My school year ended in April 2005; that was the same month Hannah left for Cambodia. I was left home alone. This began what I called “Dark Side Summer.” Depression set in; time lost meaning; the world stopped in its tracks, at least for me.

Hannah was doing fine. She’d found a cool restaurant at her post, and went there one day for breakfast. On the walk back, even in the morning, it was already 100 degrees [Fahrenheit; for international readers, lets say 37 C].

Then she started to itch.

(Continued tomorrow.)