Heat Wave

I opened my eyes, stretched and yawned. The sun poured in through the blinds lighting the room up with it’s brilliance. I rolled to my side and looked at my husband Don.

“Good morning, baby.” I said.

“Good morning,” he said sleepily as he reached out and moved my hair from my cheek. 

I grinned and hopped out of bed. Several minutes later I had showered, dressed and donned a light bit of make up. I looked at my husband who still lounged in bed. 

“Meet me in the kitchen in ten minutes? I’ll have breakfast ready.”

“Sounds great.” He grinned back at me as I scooted out the door. 

The sun followed me to the kitchen where it warmed my skin as it came in through the skylight. It seemed as happy to see me as I was to see it. I turned on the radio and the song “I’ve Got Sunshine” crooned out. I giggled at the coincidence and began to sing along. 

I had breakfast ready in no time. Don met me at the kitchen island where he grinned at me dancing around and singing. We quickly ate our breakfast and headed to the flea market to see if we could find any good deals. It was the perfect day to go with the weather being so nice. 

We wandered around outside stopping frequently to let our eyes devour what was in each booth. The sun felt fantastic on my skin, it’s brightness made everything cheery. As it got warmer throughout the day it made the lemonade at the snack stand taste even better!

***********************************************************************************************************

I sipped my lemonade as I leaned back in my chair, the sun warming every exposed inch of my skin. I could see the sunlight on the back of my eyelids as I lay there. I felt as if the sun were feeding my soul. And it was just lapping it up. I looked over at Don and smiled. 

I was so happy we had decided to move here. This was so much better than having to put on fifteen layers of clothing just to go check the mail or having to leave the house twenty minutes early to make sure you had time to scrape the ice off the car. Gone were the days of backup generators and super stocking the pantry “just in case”. Gone were the warm slippers to quickly be replaced with flip flops. Instead of being stuck in the house for days at a time sometimes, we were lounging by the pool, boating on the lake or just sitting on the porch at night, ceiling fan going, listening to nature. It was so cheerful, so inviting, so energizing. I loved it!

***********************************************************************************************************

I looked over at my wife whose legs were propped up in the chair beside her, a cold lemonade in her hand. She had her head tilted back with her eyes closed warming in the sun like a cat on a window sill. She absolutely loved this weather. 

I hated it. 

With a passion. 

It made me sweat in places I never thought I would sweat. I’ve never taken as many showers per day as I do now. I couldn’t leave the house without sunscreen ever. Thank you Irish roots! I loved to wander around but not when the places we wandered meant we got a tour of hell itself. 

I shifted in my seat to get further under the table umbrella. I was pretty sure the tops of my flip-flopped feet were burned already. A bead of sweat trickled down my back feeling like tiny ants crawling. I wriggled until I could scratch the area through my shirt. 

My lemonade was empty already and I was ready for another. It felt so hot it was hard to breath. I lifted my hat and ran a napkin across my forehead. I couldn’t wait to get back to the house and jump in the pool. I needed relief from this heat. My stomach growled and I contemplated the idea of eating something from one of the vendors but with this heat I would probably vomit it back up. Better stick to the lemonade until we were home in the air conditioning. 

As I stood up to get my refill, I tugged at my shirt to make it stop sticking to my back and gave my legs a shake to release my shorts leg from them. I shook my head and headed for the lemonade stand. 

Back in the car, another room of hell by this point in the day, the air conditioner seemed to be taking forever to cool. I turned it up to max. I watched as my dear, sweet wife reached in the backseat for her throw blanket. 

“Are you cold already, Katy?” I asked, surprised. 

“No, but I know I will be in a moment.” she replied as she spread the blanket over her legs. In a few minutes she would have it pulled up over her chest and shoulders. Unlike me, she never complained, just adjusted. 

A couple beads of sweat broke free from my forehead and rolled down my face. I grabbed a napkin from the console and wiped my face and neck. I looked down at my shirt to make sure it hadn’t dripped on it and noticed I had sweat through my shirt at the armpits and tiny dots were forming where my t-shirt lightly touched my stomach. I rolled my eyes and sighed. All I wanted was to be in the air conditioning at home, comfortable and cool. 

It made me miss home so much...the crispness of the cool air, the smell of firewood burning, the ghost-like look of the dew rising as the morning sun began to warm it. I missed the fact that you never broke into a sweat unless you were just killing it on the farm that day. I missed jumping into a pond and the water being cool and refreshing. Here the only time that happened was at the very beginning of the summer. A week and a half in and the pool was like bath water. 

More sweat rolled down the side of my face. 

Man, I really hated it here.