Spring is finally here!!! Where we live everything is in bloom and it is gorgeous. I’ve been trying to get outside every chance I get. I forget that spring can be a very uncomfortable time for people with allergies. This week at work I was chatting with a colleague who shared that he was miserable with sinus pain as there is so much pollen in the air. I have a sneaking suspicion that as I get older based on all the environmental toxins out there, I’ll inevitably get some form of allergies. All the more reason for me to savor these seasons while I can.

Talking to my colleague about spring allergies brought me back to my childhood. When we were younger, my mother, older sister, and older brother had terrible pollen allergies. I remember how my brother would be constantly rubbing his red, watery eyes and sneezing miserably as trees bloomed outside. I thought he was such a grouch and I didn’t understand why he seemed to complain so much. Every spring our household would explode with runny noses, itchy eyes, and foul attitudes… for half of us. The other lucky half, me, my younger brother, and my dad, were allergy free. Say what you will about OTC drugs, but when Claritin finally was available without a prescription, life became much calmer in our home.

When I was younger and I’d watch my brother suffer through the spring, for awhile I thought it was related to our small eyes. I thought his eyes were red, itchy, and runny as just another one of those things that made us different. Eventually I came to understand allergies can happen to anyone. I truly just don’t think that much about allergies because I have been so fortunate to never have them. Looking back, I really feel for my mom and my siblings as they suffered through each spring. As a recurring theme with BPES, especially as a child, so often we’d experience something related to our eyes and I would have such a hard time deciphering if this was “normal” or happening because we had small eyes.

As I take a deep breath in this afternoon on my patio, relishing the fresh, clean spring air, I am reminded that although I have BPES, I can appreciate that I don’t have allergies.