the nose knows.

i swear, i did not used to have allergies. growing up, i was that typically tomboyish kid who was constantly outside. (mostly at my mom's insistence i think) i loved getting dirty, climbing trees, and doing really anything that allowed me to run around like crazy - whether it was football, baseball, foxtail, freezetag, or any number of made-up activities our little imaginations could muster. and call me crazy, but rolling around in freshly cut grass was one of my most favorite pasttimes. and as i remember it, never once did any of this cause so much as a sneeze out of me.

and then i grew up and went away to college.

my first spring at Geneva hit me hard. at first it was just a bit of a stuffy nose as i walked around the rather lovely landscaped campus, and i wrote it off as nothing. maybe i was coming down with a little cold. but i realized that i had all of a sudden developed allergies one sunny afternoon as i was stuck inside studying for some sort of test or whatnot with some friends in the lounge, and not having much fun with it. because really, who actually wants to study when they could be out playing on a lovely sunny afternoon? one friend (who would later come to be known as my Best Friend In The World) (we shall refer to her as 'Julie') decided to brighten my day by bringing me a very lovely flower.

(this is not that flower. but isnt it pretty?)

seriously guys, it was the most gorgeous flower ever. and it smelled absolutely delicious. i wish i really did have a picture of it. because then i could remember it forever probably figure out what the heck kind of evil violent-allergy-inducing face-swelling eye-watering throat-closing monster was hiding within that beautiful exterior. it took me a while to realize that my entire face was in the process of swelling shut, and a little longer to realize that this horrible unprecedented event was being caused by the beautiful flower that i was happily waving all around my face, inhaling deeply of its fantastic fragrance.

once the truth of the situation dawned on me, it was a miserable time of recovery as the flower was trashed, benadryl was taken, and all i could do was brood on the unfairness of developing allergies to beautiful flowers during my freshman year of college while i waited for my face to return to its normal state. meanwhile, Julie went to find the bush from which she had plucked said flower-of-disaster so we could make a point to avoid it in the future, only to find that the bush was no longer there! in the short span of time between when she picked me the flower and when it almost killed me, the source of said flower had vanished said Julie.

and now, i have about a two-week stretch every spring during which i am a hot allergic mess. my eyes water, my nose stuffs up, and my whole head feels kind of floaty. an 'allergy fog' i think is the technical term. also, grass clippings cause me to break out in little red itchy bumps and this year i also have a mystery non-itchy rash-type-thing on my elbows kind of like my sister gets when she eats oranges. curse you beautiful mystery vanishing flower of doom for opening the floodgates of seasonal allergies onto my previously unallergic non-allergic allergy-free self! (dude. according to thesaurus.com there are no antonyms for the word allergic!) (also, the longer i look at it, the less like a word it looks)

i hope your nose treats you all well this allergy season. keep your tissues close, and stay far away from secret-mystery-vanishing-flowers-of-doom!