It is currently allergy season, and I am one of millions who suffer from spring-time allergies.  It is always exciting to open the windows on the first few warm days to let the winter staleness out and the fresh breezes in.  Unfortunately, those warm breezes also carry in the pollen and yellow-dusting signs that the trees are awakening and the flowers are blooming.
Fortunately, my allergies are rather mild with watery eyes, an itchy nose and sneezing being my most common symptoms.  In the past, during this time of year, whenever I stepped outside, opened a window or inhaled a nice breeze, I would, undoubtedly, sneeze.
People around me thought nothing of it as I, like so many others, would sneeze into my arm or a tissue and carry on with my normal business.  Today, however, this is not the case, because sneezing in the middle of a pandemic, whether it’s allergy season or not, gets you noticed. 
At first, I tried to hold in my sneezes, but the little voice inside my head that thinks my brain will explode if I hold in my sneezes, usually wins and forces the sneeze out.  Plus, I am not always super prepared for the sneeze as one of the major symptoms of allergies is ‘unexpected’ and frequent sneezing, and as much as it startles someone near me, it startles me even more.  Then I tried keeping my mask on to contain the sneeze, but sneezing into my mask, is just plain terrible.  I am not sure what the proper etiquette is when sneezing due to allergies in the middle of a pandemic which requires the wearing of a face mask, but I am fairly certain that it is the same etiquette when sneezing in general, which would be to do so in the corner of my arm, or a handy tissue.  So now, I try to do this as quickly as I possibly can whilst trying to remove my mask simultaneously, all with little to no warning that my sneeze is even coming.  And when the sneeze inevitably comes, I notice that people near me, now gawk at me and move even further away. I am certain that under their masks, their upper lip is turned in a grimace with a “Why are you out if you are sick?” judgmental sneer. 
I get it.  I’m sure I would feel the same way if I were them and found myself trying to socially distance, in a healthy way, and ended up near someone who was sneezing uncontrollably.  In addition, it has been a while since I have come into close contact with my dearest friends, so I do not think that it is appropriate to try and chase down strangers who are running away from me to try and explain I am only sneezing because I have allergies!
I am now considering getting a T-shirt made that says “I AM NOT SICK! I HAVE ALLERGIES!”I know that it is not politically correct to categorize people and isolate them, but, perhaps, we should allow for special blocks of shopping times for allergy sufferers so that we can all sneeze without shame!
Achoo! Achoo!
Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!

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