Flowers and Pollen Allergies

Flower Allergies and Pollen Written by Coco Illustrated by Cynthia Lee

After winter comes spring.

Ah, spring, a time of renewal. Baby animals are out and about, Plants are growing, People are doing spring cleaning. Flowers are about to bloom, Valentine’s day is around the corner ew to romance, Lunar New Year is almost here.

Of course, with Lunar New Year almost here, There’s an opportunity to eat Chinese turnip cakes and also nian gao.

Yes, I like spring. Yes, spring is a time of renewal, but there’s one thing I dislike-

POLLEN. POLLEN ALLERGIES.

Every spring (before 2020), I would brace myself for what would happen.

In the morning, I wake up and prepare myself for the constant sneezes. At school, I would try to go about my day in classes and during recess… Assuming that I did not constantly sneeze.

But, most of the time, I would usually sneeze.

Sneezing isn’t the worst of the problems, there are also red itchy eyes, and a runny nose. With my eyes red and itchy, I always rub my eyes and my eyes would usually be watery. Having a runny nose is the worst. I always have to get up from my desk, get a piece of kleenex, wipe my nose and then throw it away. (at some point, the teacher told me to just take the entire box to my desk)

Now, with masks on and also wearing safety glasses, I can relax a bit I don’t have to worry about pollen coming in contact with my face, but-

I can no longer enjoy smelling flowers. To this day, I fear that smelling any flowers would trigger my pollen allergies. Well, except tulips. I’m fine with smelling tulips.