Article May 28, 2012 Issue

Pollen storm, but no allergies!

TMC Youth's website, time4thinkers.com, recently featured this article as a blog.

Justin Ballantyne

I was camping with my family in the middle of a pollen dust storm. I could see the pollen bursting out of the evergreen trees all around me. In the light breeze it was landing like snow on the ground, on top of my tent, on my garden chair, on my laptop, and on my glasses, quickly covering whatever it landed on.

For as long as I can remember, I had experienced allergies to different elements outdoors such as grass, moldy leaves, and pollen. The worst of these was pollen. Every spring, the flowers would come into bloom, then the trees would begin to bud—and then my eyes would become irritated and turn a bright red, and I would begin to sneeze uncontrollably. All very beautiful . . . . Well, OK, the first part was!

By the time this spring trip came around, I’d had enough. Why couldn’t I just enjoy the season and be comfortable outside?