Spring

[Lorna Barrett]

Oh, how I have been looking forward to Spring. Yes, we really didn't have to suffer through winter until mid-January (which was heaven, by the way), but then we had 10 solid weeks of totally crappy weather.

We had some marvelously hot days in April, but they're always an aberration. In May and June it can be downright COLD in my corner of Western New York.

And now there's pollen.

Mind you, until this year, I never suffered from any kind of allergies. Nothing ever tickled the inside of my nose. I never used up a box of tissues in the Spring unless (like this time last year) I had a terrible cold.

But this year is different. It's like there's a little guy with a feather duster residing in each of my nostrils tickle, tickle, tickling me. It is not fun.

And what am I going to do about it?

Nothing. Except grab another tissue.

I can't take antihistamines. Each time I've tried, I've experienced terrible side effects. (You do have to be able to draw a breath in order to breathe, you know. Me and antihistamines just don't get along.)

And...you know, I think about people like old Thomas Jefferson, who lived in hot, humid Virginia (before the days of air conditioning) with all those flowers, trees, crops and grape vines, who lived to the ripe old age of 83 and never took allergy medication.

I think Americans in general are over medicated (and I'm not the only one). Look at all those women who got suckered into hormone therapy so they wouldn't suffer from hot flashes and night sweats. A lot of them are already dead from cancer; the others are undergoing chemotherapy right now and praying a merciful God hears their pleas for healing.

I've been told "you ought to whiten those yellow teeth of yours," but what if all those men and women with pearly white smiles find out a few years from now that the cost of their dazzling teeth is oral cancer?

Nope. I'm content to brush away the plaque and blow my nose and live with a dull smile and stuffy nose.

It was good enough for old Thomas Jefferson, after all.