to settle in

I never had allergies until I moved away from Indiana.
I went 22 years without ever having to worry about pills, or shots, sneezing, or itching.
But then I moved to the pollen capital of the U.S. (Greenville, S.C.) where I had to sweep all the genetic material off my porch and watch the world around me explode in color. Ever since, the emergence of green grass and Easter eggs coincides with sinus headaches and Zyrtec.
And at this point in my life I have moved enough times to know that it's not specific allergens that make my sinuses swell and my eyes water...

I'm allergic to change.

The first Spring season in a new location is always the worst. By the Earth's second swing around the Sun, my reaction isn't as bad and sometimes by the third go-round I don't need any medication at all. My body adjusts to its new environment and no longer feels threatened by the foreign plant matter and alien terrain. I get used to the place and my defense systems don't feel the need to launch an all out war against an invading force.

But that first Spring in a new state...man.

And this being my first Spring in Iowa, my nose is reacting to breathing in all this Mid-Western plant sex. So I'm taking allergy pills, and waiting for all the dust to settle. Waiting for my body to adjust to its new home, just as we are learning to settle in. Waiting to find new rhythms, new friends, shore up tender purposes and make them our own. Until that one day, when I will find..
my nose and my heart are used to it.
And settle into our new land.