Rant #1,423: My Favorite Time of Year

This is supposedly my favorite time of the year, but you wouldn't know it, by the level of allergy suffering I am going through right now.

Normally, this time of year is tops with me.

We move from winter into spring, which means we can put away the snow shovels and the heavier clothing and get into the warmer weather.

It's not that I mind the cooler weather--I really don't--but I do mind the snow.

I have hated snow since I became an adult and had to shovel it.

Baseball also begins now, and even though I am not too enthralled by the Yankees' chances in 2015, at least the season is upon us.

So now, the warmer weather is here, my birthday is right around the corner--I just love having birthdays--and I can look forward to an even warmer summer.

But this year, April signifies not only the busting out of spring, but seemingly the busting out of everything that ails me allergy-wise.

Hay fever, the garbage coming down from the trees, pollen, the air--everything is bothering me now, but I don't have to tell any allergy sufferers out there about what it is to suffer from this malady.

It is a curse.

It impacts your very being, makes you feel not sick, but lousy all the time, and really makes the day longer than it really is.

Yesterday was excruciating, in particular in the morning.

Before I wrote this column, I got dressed, and shaved.

Since I could not see clearly out of one eye, I was shaving with basically one eye working correctly.

Ever shave with one eye? It ain't pretty.

My eyes did not become manageable until I was up for about two and a half hours, and even then, it was pretty bad the entire day.

Today is better, but my eyes continue to bother me, although not as much as yesterday.

My right eye was swollen yesterday from all the pollen around. It probably still is today--I haven't checked it in the mirror yet--but at least I can see out of it right now.

I continue to get allergy shots each month, and they do help to a certain extent.

But I think this season is going to be really bad, since it started off bad, so I am prepared for the worst.

I have allergies year-round, but I do experience spikes during certain times of the year, including right now.

Having allergies is a curse that I would wish on no one. Happily, my kids don't have it, although I think my son may be a borderline case, as he gets stuffed ears as opposed to the symptoms I have, but he doesn't get them often. My daughter, from what I understand, doesn't really suffer at all from this, thank goodness.

My wife has bad sinuses--which is a curse unto itself--and my mother does show symptoms from time to time. My father doesn't suffer from this at all, and I don't think my sister does, either.

Why I got stuck with this is anyone's guess, but I did, and I have learned to live with it.

But for my supposed favorite time of year, I am suffering a bit, which makes me understandably unhappy, but what can I do?

I just have to grin and bear it, get my allergy shots, and see what happens.

Onward and upward I say, and move on.