Making a New Friend

I spent the next couple of years feeling pretty sorry for myself.  My allergies were making me miserable most of the time.  I was on a bunch of different meds that didn't really seem to help too much.  I felt isolated because there were many things I wanted to do but couldn't anymore, and because of that I wasn't spending as much time with friends and being social like I would have liked to.  Like I mentioned before, people can really be mean and rude and non-understanding about allergies.  Maybe I will make a post about all the crazy things people have said/done to me because of my allergies.

Anyway, I tried to have a good attitude, and often I did, but sometimes things would just really get to me and I didn't feel very close to anyone anymore.  I was also just more and more embarrassed over time about my allergies.  I hated people seeing me sneezing or seeing my face when I looked all allergic, and I didn't like people hearing my voice being all stuffy.  I didn't even like going to see the doctors, especially the ENT because he did these treatments for my sinuses that I guess was helpful a bit but I would be really snotty in the process and I hated him (or anyone) seeing that.  Looking back, I think a big problem I was having is that I didn't feel like I could confide in anyone about what I was feeling.  Most people thought I was over-reacting, or that allergies just can't be that bad.

The one big good thing from having allergies is that I met my best friend Jessie because of them.  During my junior year in high school, one day I was in the bathroom alone recovering from a really bad sneezing fit and she came in having a sneezing fit.  We kind of looked at each other and we just started talking.  We had never met before, and she was a year behind me in school.  For me, it just felt like I could talk to her, even though I usually don't talk about my allergies to anyone. 

She has what most people would think of as 'bad' allergies to a bunch of different pollens.  We just seemed to click really well, and it turned out we had some similar experiences, and we like alot of the same stuff.  She is the person I feel most comfortable with.  She is also very kind.  Once we became friends, we would hang out very often.  She also knew that if her allergies were bad, mine must be even worse so she would sometimes come over to keep me company if she figured I was suffering pretty bad.  We are still best friends to this day.  She is the one person who has been a big help for me.