We started a cedar season support group on a park bench

On a bench in Hyde Park in the thick of cedar season, I sneezed fourteen times in a row and a woman walking by handed me a full pack of tissues without a word. We talked about allergies, then about everything else. She said, we should start a support group. We did. It is two people and a thermos. Every January we meet at the same bench. We have no agenda. We bring tissues. We keep a tally on the back of the thermos. I am at three hundred and forty.