\\ It started simply. I was born, I was born in the shadow of the main Exxon refinery in South Louisiana and was diagnosed with severe asthma. I don't remember a time when I wasn't getting inhalers and drugs. Eventually I outgrew it when I reached my teens. Just about the same time I started smoking marijuana at quantities more appropriate for a Rastafarian or your average Grateful Dead fan. How I made it through my studies I will never know, made pretty decent grades back then too. Which started a blissful 20 year stretch with no asthma. I thought I'd beaten the final boss. Won the gold ring. Got boinked on the head by the lucky flying pickle of fate. Right up until my last baby was a year old. Mr. Asthma came roaring back suddenly. I didn't get it, it seemed beyond understanding. I didn't smoke. I hadn't fooled with illicit drugs or the Devil's Lettuce in most of those years. Heck, I didn't drink more than the occasional glass of wine, or eggnog durin...
