Mistaken ... Herbs?

So, let me tell you about a bit of a weird experience. A couple nights back, I was in my living room with the sliding glass door open and for the second time, I started to smell this … smell. To me, it seemed familiar and reminded me of the great era of arena rock. Concerts like Styx, Molly Hatchet, ELO, and Kansas. Problem is, I never really liked the smell of burning marijuana. And I never really liked that minor headache that I would get after a couple of hours exposed to it. And I never tried it. Working in a security cleared job, now is certainly not the time that I’m going to pick up that habit.

The last time I smelled it, I sort of chuckled and decided to ignore it, but this time, I don’t know if the wind was different, but it really was bothering me. I was trying to do some work and I was getting a headache and thought that I was starting to have a hard time concentrating… So I decided to go out on the porch and see if I could figure out where it was coming from.

That’s where it got weird. Not only was the smell coming from my next door neighbor, it was not the guy sitting out there, it was the eight and a half month pregnant woman who quite non-chalantly said, “Hi. How’s it going?” Well, it still looked (and smelled) to me that she was sitting there smoking a fatty and I was just shocked. So, seeming quite rude I suppose, I just said “Could you not do that on the porch? The smell comes right into my apartment.” She apologized and told me that she didn’t know that my door was open and that, get this, the smoke was a “Chinese acupuncture treatment” for discomfort during her pregnancy. I thought to myself, yeah right, and said “Well, I guess I’ll just close my door.” And I did.

I felt awkward, but sort of justified. C’mon, does she think I don’t know what marijuana smells like? And eight months pregnant??? Sheesh! I may have pissed her off, but who really cares if that’s the kind of decisions she is making for her child? But if I felt bad, she must have felt worse, because when I got home from work the next day, there was a note on my door apologizing for bothering me and explaining that she does the “treatment” outside because it bothers her husband too.

Well, now what?

Rather than let it fester and have her worry that I didn’t accept her apology, I decided to knock on her door and thank her for the note and apologize if I seemed abrupt. She seemed very sweet and friendly and a little embarrassed, so I guess I did the right thing in knocking on the door.

But I’m still not sure about that smoke. Chinese acupuncture? C’mon.