Achoo!

**Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!**

     I have photic sneeze reflex, which means I sneeze when exposed to bright lights... like the sun. So, whenever I walk outside, our step out of the car, I sneeze, usually 5-7 times.
     Ever since I was 3 or so, Mom noticed I'd sneeze when she's help me out of the car. Around the age of 10, I joked to someone that I was allergic to the sun. That person was Marcel. Wrong choice. I ended up with a 15 minute lecture about how you couldn't be allergic to the sun, blah, blah, blah... I decided I'd prove to him that I actually had something different from most people.
     A year later, I received a kid's science magazine about the topic of Light. On the front it said, "Does Light Make You Sneeze?" After searching through, I found this short article:

"Does light make you sneeze? If so, you have a condition called photic sneeze reflex. (Photo means "light".) This reflex makes some humans 'achoo' when they go from a dark room into bright light. Scientists aren't sure why." 

     That helped. Well, at least I now knew that my condition has a name.

     Some time after, Hannah and I were on YouTube watching VeggieTales silly songs. The song, Sneeze If You Need To, started out all funny; Bob needed to sneeze, so he goes the The Sneeze Dr. Mr. Lunt, the nurse, pops up part way through to give you an Interesting Fact; "the average sneeze travels at 100mph..." 2nd "Interesting Fact"? Photic sneeze reflex. Totally made my day.

     Anyhow, this all makes for a good laugh for those around me when I start sneezing...once, twice, a third time.. and so on. Oh, and I'm special; photic sneeze reflex affects only 25% of the population. Great.

-Autumn Story Mott