Oh So Hot

It's hard to remember a time when I was this hot. Our apartment on Mathilda Street didn't have air conditioning. The summer we hiked the AT had some pretty hot days, especially through Pennsylvania and New York. The local news tonight advised people to keep an eye on their elderly neighbors. Some people lead climate-controlled lives and go from an air-conditioned house to an air-conditioned car to an air-conditioned job, perhaps stopping at the air-conditioned grocery store or the air-conditioned Starbucks on the way. Those kind of people also complain about the heat, but experience it in five minute bursts as they walk through a parking lot. And yes, I'll admit it can be shocking to the system to step through a door and feel that blast of hot air.

We, however, are not climate-controlled people. We live in a 95 year old house without HVAC. Central air is not in our future. We have a window unit in our bedroom that keeps us sane. We sweat. We mop our brows. We drink ice water and sit in front of a fan cranked to high, rendering all conversation impossible. We drink Pimm's Cups for happy hour on our porch and celebrate every blessed breeze that comes our way.

As I sit here typing this with sweat literally dripping off my forehead, I think about Phoenix, where I was twice as hot, but sweat less, and where we kept our A/C on 80 and that actually felt good, and I have to say that "hot" is a relative term. No matter how hot you are, it is hotter someplace else in the world. At least I'll be looking forward to winter when this summer winds down. And I'll forever remember this steamy summer as the time when Laurel started to crawl, and learned to clap her hands, and carefully fed herself Cheerios, one at a time, while she sat in her little red chair on the front porch, watching traffic and smiling at neighbors. I'll remember her first summer concerts at Hartwood, where we cool off on Sunday nights. I'll think of her sitting in the grass, bouncing to the music. Lots of cool baths, and combing her baby-fine hair. Hide and go seek from opposite sides of the bed, where we played on the hottest of afternoons, with the curtains drawn. Pool parties with her friends and escaping to the mall for the air-conditioning. With all these memories collecting, I really can't complain about the heat.