cousin's allergies (f)

[Brooks]

My cousin is my best friend and we hang out almost everyday. We had not hung out in a long time (which for us is a few days) so a few weekends ago we decided to hang out for an entire day.

My cousin, who I'll call C, is mixed mostly with Irish, German, and Italian. She's tan, 5'5"ish, and her long,straight her is a shade between dark blonde and very light brown. Her eyes are a blue-green mix and she has a small upturned nose. She is a fitness trainer/aerobics instructor and she has a toned, athletic physique. She can be a tomboy yet ladylike at the same time.

C is a stifler. We were both 5 when I saw her sneeze for the first time. She stifled two sneezes and ever since then I've been curious to see what her sneezes are like when she lets them out. I've been waiting over 20 years and so far I have not seen her let out a sneeze. There have been about a million close calls though. She is a very sneezy person and as I mentioned before we hang out all the time so I've had more than plenty of chances to see her unstifled sneeze. I know a lot of die-hard stiflers and I've seen all of them let out at least one sneeze. All of them except for C. She is my Mount Everest of sneezers. I keep telling myself that it's only a matter of time before she lets one out.

She is probably the sneeziest person I know. She is allergic to several things including cats, horses, dust, pollen and certain perfumes and colognes make her sneeze as well. On a normal basis she sneezes a lot but during the spring and summer she sneezes even more. So when we decided to hang out on this particular day I knew she was going to sneeze a lot.

The day started with me going to her apartment in the morning as she was doing laundry. She had just put her clothes in the wash and then we went to eat breakfast at a diner. We sat by the window and the sun was shining right in her direction. Shortly after the waitress took our order the sun was starting to get to her. She stifled 3 rapid fire sneezes that sounded like 'huh-ngxt..huh-ngkt....huh-ngxkt'. She felt a fourth coming. She thought it went away but it came full force and caught her by surprise. It was stronger and louder than the first 3 but she still managed to stifle it, barely. It sounded like 'HUH-NGXKT!'. She said something under her breath and I think it was 'that one almost came out'. I said god bless you and she thanked me. I always tease C by saying bless you. She always tells me I don't have to say it every single time she sneezes but I do it anyway and she just laughs it off.

After breakfast we went back to the laundry room in her apartment complex. We put her clothes from the washer to the dryer then headed to her apartment. She had started cleaning her apartment before I got there but needed my help to move some furniture. Between all the furniture moving and the cleaning there was a lot of dust in the air which surely aggravated her allergies. I helped clean her place and we finished in about an hour. During that time she had sneezed repeatedly in two different ways: she would either sneeze 5-6 times rapidly every few minutes or once about every 5 minutes. It was hard to keep count but I think she sneezed around 45 times, all stifled of course. She was struggling to stifle the rapid fire sneezes just like at the diner. This was a good sign. It was early in the day and she was already struggling. I had a gut feeling that this was going to be the day that I finally see her let out a sneeze.

We went back to the laundry room and got her clothes out of the dryer. She was rubbing her nose a lot and I might have seen a pre-sneeze expression once or twice but no sneezes. Next on our agenda was going to the mall. We were there for a few hours and went into a few stores. She didn't sneeze until we got to one of the last stores we visited. We were on different sides of the store but I was still within earshot to hear her stifle 6 sneezes. They weren't rapid fire like the others they were more spread out with about 20-30 seconds between each sneeze. One of the female employees said god bless you after each sneeze and asked her if she was alright. C politely said 'yeah it's just me allergies'. C was never embarrassed about sneezing in public or talking about sneezing. However, I wondered if the female employee was one of us. It could've been my imagination but she seemed drawn to C when she was sneezing. C stifled four more sneezes and the woman was right there to say god bless you and she asked C if she was sure she was okay. C smiled and said something that I couldn't hear and then they both started laughing.

When we were done shopping we went to have lunch in the food court. Halfway through lunch, C had a mouthful of food when she felt a sneeze coming. She put a hand over her nose and mouth as she stifled two sneezes. She couldn't open her mouth so there was no 'huh' part of the sneeze, just 'NGKT...NGXT'. C never covers her face when she sneezes around me but does it sometimes when she's in public. This was one of the few times that she did. I assumed she was afraid of having food come out of her mouth. After she stifled her second sneeze she kept her hand over her mouth, laughed, and mumbled 'I hate sneezing with food in my mouth'. As much as she tried to laugh it off I could tell it was frustrating her. She shook her head and rolled her eyes as she felt another sneeze coming. She tried to chew and swallow her food before she had to sneeze but the sneezes kept coming. She sneezed a total of 7 times, all stifled. I said god bless you and when she finally stopped sneezing she swallowed her food and said thank you.

We went back to her apartment to drop off our bags and our next stop was the movie theater. C sneezed at three different parts of the movie: she stifled two sneezes at about 20 minutes, one at about 45 minutes, and three at about an hour and a half. I whispered 'bless you' and she whispered 'thank you'.

Since it was such a nice day, we decided to go the boardwalk on the beach. We bought a few things, played some games in the arcade and went on a few rides. We left after a few hours and the sun was still shining. While we were talking and walking down the boardwalk the sun started getting to C and she broke into a fit of 12 stifled sneezes. Again I said 'bless you' and she thanked me.

C and I are big sports fans so we went to our favorite restaurant/bar to watch the baseball, basketball, and hockey games while enjoying some food and drinks. After a while, we saw a girl who is a mutual friend of ours, I'll call her F, and she was with her boyfriend. The four of us decided to sit together. It was either F's perfume or her boyfriend's cologne but as soon as we all sat together C started another fit. This fit went on for 27 sneezes and F had no problem saying 'god bless you' after each sneeze. I was glad because I was gettting tired of saying it. F asked C if she was okay and C politely said 'yeah it's just my allergies'. The drinks must have been slowing down C's reaction time becasue all 27 sneezes were very close to coming out and she was barely stifling them at the last possible second. I thought for sure that at least one would come out but no luck.

After we left, we went to the ice cream parlor. It was a nice night so we ate our ice cream outside on one of the benches. C caught the attention of a little boy who was with his family at a nearby table. He was about 3 and he came over to her and started talking to her until we finished our ice cream. Then C turned away from the boy and stifled two sneezes and the boy said 'bless you'. C said 'thank you, sweetie' and told the boy she was about to leave but the boy looked like he was about to cry so C and I stayed a for few more minutes.

(This part is off-topic so if you want to read about just the sneezes go to the next paragraph). C was wearing a pair of short shorts and she sat cross legged with the little boy standing in front of her. Then out of nowhere he slowly started rubbing his hands up and down C's thighs and across her stomach. C politely told the boy 'No' and tried to move his hands but he wouldn't listen and he tried to grab C's breasts. C crossed her arms in front of her to block the boy from doing so and in a more stern voice this time told the boy again 'No'. The mother saw what he was doing and quickly came and took him away. She repeatedly apologized and was embarrassed but C assured her it was okay. Now that it was okay for C and I to leave we stood up and got ready to walk home. The boy got away from his mother and ran back to C. C was wiping waffle cone crumbs off of her with her back turned to the boy when he reached and tried to grab C's butt. He came within an inch of doing so when his mother grabbed him again and brought him back to table with the boy kicking and screaming.

We went back to C's apartment and watched a DVD. C changed into her pajamas while I made popcorn and then we sat on the couch and watched the movie. The dust from earlier must have still been lingering because C started sneezing again. She had been sneezing all day and she had not let one out so I knew this was my last chance of the day to see one. During the course of the movie sneezed 19 times and they were all stifled. She kept going back and forth to the bathroom to blow her nose hoping it would help but to no avail. After the movie she went to her bedroom and I slept in the guest room. I didn't have to work the next day but C did. When I woke up she was gone. I left her place and thought about how close i came to seeing her unstifled sneeze. I guess I'll have to wait another day.

[elements]

wow. Poor girl must have been tired from all those sneezes!!!

[haymaker]

Thanks for this long but entirely readable account.

It left me wondering whether she lets her sneezes out when alone.

[Joal 555]

What an extraordinary day - I didn't count up but she must have sneezed over 100 times!

[Brooks]

wow. Poor girl must have been tired from all those sneezes!!!

Yeah I think she was. From the time we were kids to about her late teenage years it did take a lot out of her when she sneezed a lot but now I think she's gotten used to it.

It left me wondering whether she lets her sneezes out when alone.

I never asked her but someone else asked her that before. She told them that even when she's alone she stills holds her sneezes in.

What an extraordinary day - I didn't count up but she must have sneezed over 100 times!

Yeah I think it was around 120. She usually doesn't sneeze that much but it's not uncommon

[Dogma]

I doubt you will ever see her unstifled sneeze. There are people like that. Even though I dont sneeze even nearly as much as her, having no allergies, I dont think I myself have ever heard my unstifled sneeze during my entire adult life. I just dont understand how some habitual stiflers can fail to stifle, for me it just comes naturally and I cannot think of a situation or reason where I would fail at it.

[Hankysneeze]

Another Wow!

[March Hare]

It's like a suspense story: "will she... or won't she...?" and that with all the lovely sneezing in between. Really cool! I see the makings of a very fine storyteller here. This is an impressive observation. Nice work!

[Brooks]

I doubt you will ever see her unstifled sneeze. There are people like that. Even though I dont sneeze even nearly as much as her, having no allergies, I dont think I myself have ever heard my unstifled sneeze during my entire adult life. I just dont understand how some habitual stiflers can fail to stifle, for me it just comes naturally and I cannot think of a situation or reason where I would fail at it.

I agree that it is doubtful I will ever see her unstifled sneeze, especially if I haven't seen it by now. The only time I've seen habitual stiflers not stifle is when the sneeze comes out faster than they anticipated and they don't have time to hold it in, I was hoping this would happen to her. I used to believe that eventually one sneeze will come out, either accidentally or purposely, but it doesn't seem like it's going to happen.

[itchynose2]

Yeah I think it was around 120. She usually doesn't sneeze that much but it's not uncommon

128

*WOW*!

[blum]

Thanks for sharing

[BananaTree]

My goodness! I can't imagine.

[queenie]

I think you have just given me a huge fantasy crush on your cousin. So, uh, thanks?

[thewhitetigerleo]

sit with a cat and have her come over afterwards give her a hug and watch her sneeze. Not really but I think it might work. LOL. othere than that I wish you luck. tell us more obs when you get them.

[blowingnosefan]

i would have gone nuts to be around a girl blowing her nose for a WHOLE day haha

[Pearlised]

Nice obs!

And that kid is going to be some kind of sexual deviant when he's older :/

[BootyBurgers]

thanks for the awesome obs!

[Brooks]

128 *WOW*!

Even though that's a lot of sneezes in one day, it's not near her record. She has passed 200 sneezes in one day a handful of times. I think her record is around 250 sneezes in one day, give or take. It gets hard to keep count with that many. It was one of those times where I thought for sure I would see an unstifled sneeze but never did. I didn't think she was ever going to stop sneezing that day.

[sneezefan]

I agree...poor girl...all of those sneezes (which we all enjoyed, of course) probably wore her out. Sorry about that...bless her. Nice observation.

[dontnoqit]

I think this officially qualifies as a perfect day.

[Brooks]

I think this officially qualifies as a perfect day.

Haha! I think this would be a perfect day for everyone except me. For me a perfect day would be seeing her let out one of her many sneezes.