Ahh, the spring allergy season has arrived. Woohoo! (Or more like ahchoo!) Living life with allergies isn’t easy but, it’s what I do.
Nature is Calling, Springtime Allergies are Too!
Being surrounded by nature soothes my soul. But with all good things in life, one must also deal with the bad. The great outdoors may be my go-to for healing, but it’s also become my worst nightmare each spring once the pollen activates my seasonal allergies.
Spring is my favorite time of year, but the sneezin’ season isn’t the part I look forward to. It starts with that persistent tickle in the back of my throat, occasionally accompanied by a raspy voice. Then it gravitates into red, itchy eyes followed by nasal congestion and sneezing, lots and lots of continuous sneezing. Sometimes, I cough. My nose runs profusely. Oftentimes, my eyes will water to the point where I look as if I’m crying. I’m not, but maybe I should be to help flush all the pollen from my eyes. They burn too and I resemble Garfield (you know the big orange cat with buggy eyes). My face and arms feel as if all the small bits of pollen are embedded inside my skin, regardless of how much I wash it away.
Surprisingly, living life with allergies wasn’t always like this. My once mild seasonal allergies have simply gotten worse with time. Speaking of which, I’m generally out in the garden during peak times of the day when pollen is at its worst, usually early morning or late evening. But those are also the only times I can avoid the harsh sunlight. Windy days are the worst, and it doesn’t matter what time of day either. Just walking down my driveway to retrieve the mail can be a challenge. Imagine being enveloped in a whirlwind cloud of yellow dust. Ugh! Never mind trying to get any actual gardening accomplished on blustery days like this. What’s a girl to do?
Even with an allergy-friendly garden, there’s still other plants loaded with pollen – like the huge willow oaks in my front yard, the surrounding pines, grass pollen, weed pollen, etc. Besides, I welcome pollinators to the garden and, well, don’t they need the pollen? Seems like a small price to pay to both enjoy them and harvest fruits/veggies. Most of the time I just suck it up and deal with my springtime allergies. After all, it’s just one season, right? I do what needs to be done in the garden, sometimes in spurts but mostly as long as it takes just to get it over with. But then as I look around at all the beauty and happy pollinators, which are practically bathing in the pollen, I find myself once again lost in nature’s embrace. So, I suffer quietly and I’m thankful.
Life could be worse. Nature is calling, so I continue to oblige with my mythical green thumb, red nose and achoos!
