That’s what my kids call them. They’ve heard Cameron and I talk about my sometimes frequent “dizzy spells” and they must think they are every bit as intense and exciting as the rides in Orlando.
They’ve been a part of my life now for about 20 years. For awhile I thought they were vertigo since they would often hit when I was on a golf course looking out from an elevated tee-box to the fairway below. But in recent years, the “dizzy spells” haven’t been so much about the world spinning as they have been about a sort of surreal, almost dreamlike feeling.
I had a pretty bad one a few months before leaving the tv news business, my co-workers must have thought I was having a stroke or something. I did get dizzy, but then I got sort of unattached to reality.
I haven’t had as many since I left the business making me think they might have something to do with stress. But I did get one today while shooting a video for church recreation program. I started thinking ‘am I REALLY shooting this game or is this a dream?’. That sums up my “disney spells” experience.
I’ve had them when I’ve been driving around in my truck. Once I pulled back into the driveway and wondered “where is my truck?” I was in it dummy. I’ve had them when I sort of wondered who the kids are that are in my house. They’re mine (of course there HASN’T been any paternity test, but I’m fairly sure). I’ve had them while sitting at the computer, reading the paper, watching television, working out at the gym, on a job interview.
Most of the time they go away after a few minutes and I’m left with a headache. The doctors tell me they’re migraines. Sometimes, they say, migraines aren’t painful but can make you lose touch with whatever you’re doing.
My disney spells haven’t been too dramatic except for a few where I’ve forgotten my phone number, forgotten fairly important tasks I had just completed or forgotten (last summer) that our house had sold and I had been interviewed for a tv anchor job in Birmingham. That one was fairly scary for Cameron and my mom and dad and for me.
But for the most part, they’re just part of what I have to deal with. As Coach from Cheers might say “they’re kind of a nice break in the day”.