Vertigo

An artic blast has made an early December stop in our area. Last night, in anticipation of its arrival, I gathered up gloves and scarves and boots so I would not be scrambling for them this morning.
Things should have gone smoothly as organized as I was for today. I did not count on, though, on an early December (re)visit from vertigo.
A few years back I had the real live genuine swine flu. It settled in my left ear.
I will stop here and admit that there was a time when I would hear one of my elders reference something "settling" somewhere and would roll my eyes. But I now know that it really can happen. And it happened to me. Now, periodically, I have vertigo.
My daughter calls me Lucille 2, after the character played by Liza Minelli on "Arrested Development." While I wish I had Liza Minelli's legs, I do not want her character's vertigo. Alas, I have it.
It is especially bad when my allergies  flair up. It is also bad when it is really cold. Today it is really cold.
So here is how it happened. I bend over to zip my warm boots and our of nowhere it strikes. I should have anticipated it as soon as I heard the weather forecast.
The good news: I caught myself before I fell to the floor. It was ugly but there was no one around to see it but the dogs, and they aren't talking. The bad news, if I had fallen to the floor, there would have been no one to help me up. Also, I am not sure I could have lived with the shame of it if I'd broken something.