It happens every year. The weather warms up. The warmer temperatures feel so nice. You just want to throw open the windows and welcome in some of that nice warm air. But there’s something else lurking out there, just waiting for a chance.
In the words of the immortal Admiral Ackbar, “It’s a trap!”
Those warmer temperatures that entice you to open the windows are in cahoots with something else. Pollen. You can’t really see it. You can only see what’s left behind as it passes through. A thin coating of yellow dust everywhere. I am becoming convinced that the pollen waits for us to open our windows, then rushes in, climbing into our sinus cavities, causing noses to run and eyes to water.
It happens every year, but I’m still never quite ready for it. Although I do manage to usually have a few antihistamines handy, just in case.
I tend to blame the pine trees, because I just happen to have a few pine trees fairly close. It’s pretty easy to blame them and their little yellow spikes on the tip of ever branch, just waiting for a nice breeze and an open window. They just wait for me to pop that window open on a nice day. Then those little yellow bits will come rushing in, coating everything in sight.
At the moment, we have the added pleasure of wildfire smoke to go along with the pollen. Which should be enough to keep us sneezing and wiping our eyes for many days to come.
You might think it would be something you would get used to over time, but the opposite seems to happen. The older I get, the more my tolerance for allergens seems to go down. It never used to bother me. Now I tend to sneeze my way through late May and a good part of June.
It’s hard not to throw those windows open to welcome those warm breezes. Just be careful. Something else is waiting to crawl up your nose.