It’s finally autumn. Two weeks ago, we had 90 degree weather. It was so hot, they had to cancel the Twin Cities Marathon. It’s the hottest it’s been in October in Minnesota. That lasted for several day, but what climate change? *waves hands*
Now, it’s a balmy 46 feels like 39, and I have my fake fur throw blanket on my legs. It’s cozy, and it makes me happy to look outside and see the leaves changing colors. We had a torrential rain last night, which we needed.
I used to not appreciate autumn. I didn’t NOT like it, but it was the blah season before my favorite season ever. Seriously, winter is S tier. The rest didn’t even rate.
The reason why: I am allergic to everything. Everything. I step outside and I can’t breathe. That’s hyperbole, but not by much. I like to say that the outdoors is fine as long as there is glass between us.
I hate spring and summer. HATE. It’s the beginning of me being wheezy and/or drippy. If I get bit by a mosquito (of which there are so. damn. many), it would swell up to the size of a grapefruit. One time, I was in Taiwan in the summer. Everyone drove scooters, and I would ride behind other people. Mosquitos love me and will ignore other people to attack me.
Side note: This was an issue between my father and me. Mosquitos left him alone, so he did not believe me when I said that I was bitten. Thanks, Dad.
Anyway, back to that summer in Taiwan. I was getting bitten all the time. At one point, I had huge, swollen bites all over my legs. It looked gross, and Ifelt miserable. The last time I got the allergy test where they prick your leg a million times and it swells like a balloon (oh wait, just me?). There were roughly forty pricks and after ten minutes, they had all swelled into each other. It was one, hot, throbbing (and not in a good way) massive welt.
Side note: When I was a kid, I had to get allergy shots every week. My mother did not explain what was happening. She just drove me to the clinic. I got the shot. Then we had to wait twenty minutes to see what happened. Inevitably, it would swell up and be hot–making me miserable. Then we would leave. After several years, I just stopped going.
It wasn’t until much later that I realized (or rather, Googled) what was going on. In a nutshell, they were injecting me with allergens. The theory is that you desensitize someone to allergens by poisoning them with it little by little. Am I biased? Hell, yes. I also didn’t understand why my brother didn’t have to go through the torture. He told me later that he had tested as being beyond help.