Finally!!!
I woke up this morning and I felt the cool breeze through the window.
Hello, old friend.
In reality, this feeling has been absent for several days; however, it seems as though it has been as long as I can remember.
To say out loud that I wish for cooler temperatures, even rain if I’m being totally honest, might seem anti-summer.
I don’t want summer to end now; I’m just beginning to relax and feel like the summer version of myself.
I just want a break from the heat, the intensity.
The constant humming of our window air conditioner causes the music and tv to be turned up a few notches; this results in louder voices throughout the house.
I think the dogs even bark louder when they want to get their point across.
There are fans everywhere and it isn’t hard to realize that these fans blow the same air, warm and stale, around and around with only momentarily relief.
The daily ritual of surveying the windows, monitoring the sun’s ability to heat each room. Which direction are the blinds turned? Light and outdoor air is limited to only the earliest and latest hours and the rest of the day my home resembles a cave.
This window surveillance is serious, too serious.
There is careful consideration to the need and timing of the dishwasher or laundry activity. Our meals are determined not by our desires, but the process. The oven has been off-limits.
This heat leaves us a bit more prickly than normal; the lack of sleep being the major factor of the equation. There are more apologies but also quick acknowledgment of the role that the heat played in the disagreement.
This seems to result in more understanding and more empathy.
I celebrate the drop in temperatures and the reduction of intensity that follows, at least in our house.
The sun is out. It is beautiful and there seems to be a collective sigh of relief with the coffee drinkers in the coffee-house where I am writing.
How does your family handle the heat?
My Twice Baked Potato 