So it's oak

I have had allergies since early adolescence. I never knew what caused them to start up, but all I knew was that come late March and all through April, I was miserable every year. I also had trouble later on in October. I never had any of those tedious, pseudo-painful tests done to see exactly which things sent my histamines roaring. I thought I might narrow it down, and I think I have.

After a particularly ugly two or three weeks (complete with bloody nose each morning, and stuffy nose each night), I began to do my research online. What, exactly, is blooming right now in my region? I checked, and ah-ha.....the pollen count percentage is overwhelming from that of the mighty oak tree. Hm.

Such a grandiose tree, beautiful and shady, strong and magnificent. Yet the gorgeous limbed structure causes me grief each and every year, causing me to always re-think whether spring really IS my favorite season.

So much for prescription remedies. I was slightly burned by the whole Seldane incident, having taken it throughout high school only to find out in college that it had been recalled due to wrongful death lawsuits among hundreds of individuals. Yikes. That makes someone like me leery even to reach for the plain old, syrupy Benadryl.

I am forced to deal with what comes to me (and my nose and my eyes) each new spring season, praying that the pollen count won't last beyond the warmest, gentlest days so that I may enjoy the great outdoors....at least some of the time. Though some days I might feel like a prisoner in my own insulated, air-conditioned home, I at least have the joy of window shopping, viewing God's newly sprung creation through panes of glass.

I am not going to complain. If seasonal allergies are the worst of the thorns in my flesh, I have absolutely nothing about which to gripe. I think of it as another opportunity to sit inside and relish in that dusty book that's been calling to me from the top shelf....