The EYE Story

Tomorrow I leave Idaho to go visit my Dad in Minnesota. I'll write a post about that someday soon, but for now I want to tell a different story. I will be flying out of Jackson Hole, and Jackson Hole always reminds me of one thing:

The EYE Story.

Some of you know this story. Some of you might have seen pictures on Facebook. And some of you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. But I still suggest everyone read on, because it's a pretty crazy one.

So from the age of 12 on, I spent the school year with Mom in Idaho and the summer with Dad in Minnesota. The summer after I graduated from high school, my dad picked me up in Idaho and we took a road trip back to Minny. We went hiking in the mountains and then camped in Jackson Hole.

La la la, having such a good time.

That  night we were staying in a little cabin, so no way could I talk to my then boyfriend in that tiny cabin with my dad. I took a little walk outside to chit chat with him. Part way through the phone conversation, I felt my eye starting to itch. Well gol darn it, I'd gotten a bug bite. This was nothing new - I was always the first - and worst - one to get bitten by mosquitoes. But when I got off the phone, I felt my eye and noticed it was just a tad swollen. I took a picture of it to see how bad it was.

Well, gee whiz, it was quite swollen! Sad.

I thought, Oh well. It will be better in the morning. 

Yeah right.

I woke up to my eye completely swollen shut!

This one is almost cute. Almost.

Oh and this one? Well, it was colder than I was anticipating so I had to wear all my clothes to keep warm.

I'll be the first to admit that I thought it was pretty funny. 

But then it got worse. And then I thought it was really funny. Except for the small voice in the back of my head that kept asking, "What if it just keeps swelling and eventually my eyelid actually BURSTS from all the pressure?" 

Shiny.

Did I mention that this happened the day we were supposed to go white-water rafting?

Well, it did. I was a one-eyed monster on the one day that both eyes would have been pretty handy. We decided we should probably get some medicine for me, so we picked up some Benadryl at the store. I wore my sunglasses until the very end, when I wanted to freak the cash register out. 

Now I was not only one-eyed, but pretty drowsy from the meds. But on I went! And I didn't fall out of my raft, not even once.

After white-water rafting - the Eye slowing beginning to deflate.

It took quite a few days, but eventually my eye began to heal.

And that's my eye story. Lesson learned? Talk to your boyfriend inside the cabin. Or, for heaven's sake, wear bug spray!!!

Jackson Hole, here I come!