2 obs from church today

[bluii]

Okay, I’ve never posted an observation before, but I had two good obs today, so I figured I’d go ahead and share them. They’re both from church.

The first was a girl in front of me, I’d say about 16, kind of athletic looking, with long blond hair. Anyway, it was a quiet part of the service and I saw her head tilt back slightly. Then she leaned forward with an almost completely silent stifle. I barely heard a small “tshh” at the end. I kept looking and she had a second, identical sneeze about 30 seconds later. If I hadn’t been looking at her, I don’t think I would have even known she sneezed.

Then the second was from across the room. The minister was in the middle of saying something that got the congregation laughing, but even above that noise level, I was able to hear a distinctive sound. The first time, I wasn’t exactly sure I’d heard a sneeze, but I heard it two more times, and by the third I was able to identify the sneezer. The sound was a loud “HUUUUPPPP followed by a slightly quieter “SHEEeeew” It was an older man at the end of the row next to me. Now I’m not usually interested in male sneezes, but this was a different sound than I’d heard from a man before. It was like he was trying to stifle, but the first “HUUUUPPP” was much too loud to want to go unnoticed. Anyway, I looked over at him and his nose was red and he was making funny twitches on his face. I knew there’d be at least one more. By now it’s quieter in the church, so I thought I’d get to hear the whole thing clearly. And sure enough, I see him twitch a lot more, then tilt back with a huge inhale….and nothing. False alarm. About 15 seconds later, more twitching, another big inhale, and nothing again! This was torture (to me, and probably to him as well). Finally, another inhale, and then “HUUUPPPPPP” but there was never the second part of the sneeze. Strange. I kept watching, but nothing else, so I finally gave up and started paying attention to the service again.

[Sneesee]

I love church sneezes, simply because they try to keep them quiet. Thanks for the cute ob. He must have finally been successful on that last sneeze/stifle attempt.