I never had any kind of allergies…
… until I moved to California. The first summer I moved out here if I laughed too deeply, or caught a glimpse of the sun at the wrong angle, my eyes would water and burn. There were many crying Sarah jokes that year.

I never had allergy rashes…
… until I became pregnant for the first time. My calves, knees and arms used to explored in large raised red blotches that itched like crazy. I’m allergic to pregnancy, I’d jest. My eyes still burned on occasion.

I never had bad allergies…
… until I moved back to the suburbs. This time my allergies manifested them self as congestion in my chest. I thought I had the onset of a mild cold, until it lasted for weeks, and I’d awaken from sleep daily with coughing fits.

I’m the kind of person who typically avoids medication. I credit my reluctance to take medication as part of the reason why I can often control my migraines with just Advil. Perhaps that’s true, or perhaps it’s observational bias. I don’t think of myself as a person with allergies because for most of my life I’ve never had them. It took a persistent cough and a call to the doctor before I decided to give over the counter allergy medication a try. Sure enough, about a week later my lingering cough had subsided enough that it would no longer wake me in the middle of the night, just as the doctor predicted.

Plants be evil.

So now in the long list of reasons why this move has been good for us (less commute time, less crowded, better schools, more places to take the kids) is one negative (more pollen). That’s a worth while trade off to me. I’ll just have to resign myself to the fact that I’ll need daily allergy medicine in the summer.

Posted in Family Life | Tags: California