Achoo! Achoo!

I went to the pharmacist to pick up my new (detestable) medication. I handed the prescription paper to the pharmacist, and he looks at it.

"You sure you have to take this?"

"Yes."

He doesn't move, doesn't say anything. 30 seconds later...

"Are you absolutely sure?"

Oh, the sarcasm that begun swirling in my head. It's not like I walked up the ice cream man and was deciding from 31 flavors. It's a prescription from a doctor on an official piece of paper, with a validation stamp to boot. It's not my choice.

"Yes, I'm sure. The doctor prescribed it."

"I'm sorry." I thought, yeah, I am too!

So while he's working on filling it, what do I do? I sneeze.

(All of you who know me understand that. For the rest of you...sorry. It's just something you have to hear in person. But for my entire life, if someone was around when I've sneezed, someone has commented when I've sneezed).

Pharmacists in countries other than the US are sort of like general practioners: for simple ailments like the flu or a cough, you go to the pharmacist, and they give you the medicine you need. It's actually kind of cool. So when I sneeze, he looks at me sort of oddly.

"You want something for that?"

"No thanks." Then, on cue, I sneeze again (I never sneeze just once).

"Really, I have something you can take for that. Just one pill a day, fix it all up." He sort of waves at his nose. "No more that sneezing."

Buddy, if you'd been around my whole life, you'd know--I'm sort of proud of "that sneezing." It makes me ME. It's not like I have a cold, or congestion, or allergies, or anything. I just sneeze. It's my thing. Please don't give me a drug to make it go away!

He looked at me like I was crazy to want the prescription I'd been told by my doctor to take, but not the non-sneezing stuff that he thought I should take. Hmmm...follow doctor's orders or rid myself of my trademark?

I know, I know. All of you who haven't heard the blessed sound in the last 14 months miss me so much more now. I'm sorry to have deprived you of the sneeze. But no worries. I didn't take the pharmacist's drug. Sneeze is still being enjoyed by people in this part of the world.