ACHOO! Wow…the 10,000th sneeze of the day, paired with some watery eyes and an itchy throat.

    Who doesn’t love that?

    Whether it’s cedar, mold, pine, ragweed, cottonwood or anything else, it sure does put a damper on your day and how you feel. And Texas allergies are the worst.

    I lived in California for 11 years of my life. Eleven years filled with sunny skies, beaches and consistent 60-85 degree weather. Allergies were unheard of then, and I definitely wasn’t missing out.

    When I moved to the Lonestar state, I heard the horror stories of allergy season, but I couldn’t relate.

    It took five years. Five years of living in Texas to develop the rumored terrible allergies. I mean Austin is rumored to be the “allergy capital.” After the recent cold weather and our little snowfall sessions had passed, the intensity of the allergens went way up.

    You know it’s going to be a bad season when you wake up with bloodshot eyes and a stuffy nose, and the worst part is, it hit me out of nowhere.

    I wasn’t prepared for this, and I surely didn’t anticipate it.

    One day I was fine, and the next, I was a congested mess. I’m sure no one enjoys having the sniffles, so why would anyone enjoy constant, unstoppable sneezing?

    Not to mention, it can be rather embarrassing. We all know that kid in the silent testing room who has to sniffle up snot every five seconds. Well, because of this allergy season, I’m turning into that kid.

   I think I went through an entire box of tissues, a roll of toilet paper and a travel set of tissues in one day because of all the sneezing. Although, I think the worst part is itchy and watery eyes.   

    The struggle is definitely real when you go through everyday feeling and looking like you have pink eye, but it’s really just the terrible effect of cedar.

    My heart breaks a little more everyday when I hear, “Cedar is through the roof,” or “We’re looking at record-breaking high amounts of mold today.”

    Yippee.

    I just can’t wait for it to be over. I never thought I’d look forward to 110 degree summer weather, until now.  Although I am slowly but surely finding ways to cope, my nightstand is full of allergy relief medication, eye drops, nasal spray, you name it.

    To all of those out there who are going through the same thing, I feel for you too. I guess you could say I’m far from “immune” to the great state of Texas.