I was a sick kid. Not the kind with a life-threatening illness that made you think, "Oh, that poor kid!" No, I was the kid who was always sneezing, or stuffed up, or had a cold or a sore throat. I even had that "cute" little crease in my nose from rubbing it too often. In my late teens, despite years of allergy shots, I had my tonsils removed (which helped immensely, by the way) and then had polyps removed from my sinuses (not fun, but it certainly cleared things up--for a while). I can't tell you how many rounds of antibiotics I was on throughout the years, and I tried every type of mind-numbing allergy medicine out there. I distinctly remember wanting to try things that involved a lot of speaking and realizing that I couldn't rely on being able to speak clearly on any given day. I ended up being a teacher, which of course, involves a lot of speaking, but every September I could count on my allergies spiraling out of control and leading to sinus infe...