Belly Fulla Blues

I hate wintergreen.

Peppermint is lovely.
Cinnamon makes me swoon.
Spearmint bonks me awake.
Ginger kicks my ass and kisses the boo-boo.

But wintergreen…OH, even the mention of the word is enough to make me gag.

It started in childhood.

Doesn’t everything?

I was what the doctors called a ‘nervous child’. I had constant bellyaches, bouts of puking, fever and sweating, and all and mostly around times of stress.

Test at school.
Family crises.
Watching “Sir Graves Ghastly” scary movies and being 100% sure I was going to be bitten by a vampire that night.

It didn’t take much to freak me out.
For my belly to flip-flop and curdle.
For my throat to tighten up.
For me to reach inner claustrophobia.

Every time I moaned, “My belly hurts!” my mom (being a typical mom of the time), would dose me up with Pepto-Bismol.

Which tastes of wintergreen.

After thousands of doses, no wonder I can’t stand the stuff.

I eventually grew out of that phase.
I don’t know how.
Or why.
Only that as I stopped being a little kid, my freakouts stopped as well.
I still got the flip-flop belly, sure, but I learned that cookies helped…and walking outside…and later, in college, that there’s no ailment that beer can’t drown out.
I haven’t tasted Pepto-Bismol in decades.

Tonight there’s a very important meeting.

One that I’ve been anticipating for a year.

On a topic that I’ve fought for.
Researched for.
Pleaded for.
Schemed for.
Emailed, phoned, met, wrung hands for.

It all comes down to the votes of 7 people.

All my side needs is 4, and we are the victors.

Sigh.

My belly…
…is…
flip-flopping
in that crazy
f-r-e-a-k-o-u-t
way
like it used to
back in the day
when I was little and wee
and was afraid to say
I don’t wanna
I don’t wanna go to school today

I’m drowning out the nausea with bubbly soda and lots of work distraction.

Oh, and peppermint.
And cinnamon.
And spearmint.
And ginger.

And later, hopefully, a sip of champagne.

Fingers crossed, y’all….