Breathing and Boheme

Last year at this time my asthma flared up; this year it’s worse. I wake in the middle of night, so tight that I have to tell myself to breathe, something that should come naturally. I get up, use my inhaler, and then… I’m awake. I lay in the dark, waiting to breathe easier. As the medication kicks in, music comes to my internal ear, soaring phrases from La Boheme. I think of Mimi coughing, and am reminded of that new emphysema commercial on TV, designed to stop people from smoking. It’s a disturbing image; I don’t smoke, but I think of my asthma. The soaring phrases of La Boheme win, and sleep returns.

- PJ