Whether The Weather

As I have written, summer is just about upon us, and it's a time when the weather is very much on my mind. For most people I know, the weather is largely something experienced while traveling between the car and an air-conditioned building. To some extent, that's true even for me, except that my domicile offers relatively limited protection from the elements. Sure, it keeps out precipitation, but little else. Even if we used the air conditioner, it's not central air. For that reason, I keep my window open most of the time, allowing in wind, noise and any living thing which can elevate itself to a second-story window.

Since I feel the effects of the day's weather more than many others, it's something on my mind. I notice the warmer and cooler days and nights. I make more deliberate effort to cope with them while at home, and suffer perhaps a bit more while in transit, as I am often moving around on foot. You understand,  I'm neither bragging nor attempting to solicit sympathy. It's just how things are for me. I like to think that it makes me a bit more of an interesting person, taking the burden off my personality to do that.

During the torrential rains months ago, I was out there in it. Possessions were soaked, and some ruined. Exceptionally complicated and circuitous routes were taken in order to cross streets, for to cross at some points was akin to fording the river in the classic Oregon Trail game. I love rain and value the contribution it makes to a healthy environment, but found myself saying, "Enough's enough. Let's not necessarily end the drought in one fell swoop, huh?" Happily, the rainy time came to an end, giving way to pleasant enough weather since.

Of course, I knew full well what was apt to come at this time of the year. What's good is that I've gotten so much more active than I was at this time last year, meaning I'll be out of the house during the hotted parts of the day many if not most days, God willing. When I am at home, I intend to follow through on my intent to do more Summer things- namely, going for a swim to cool off. No more excuses. I'm just going to throw on my trunks, grab a towel, and splash around in the pool for a while. Perhaps I'll read. I won't sunbathe, for that would be a fruitless and potentially ruinous endeavor, but I'm going go out there and be in the pool.

Perhaps I'll go see a matinee movie sometimes, as people often did in the old days. (That was an especially popular activity back in my hometown of Phoenix, which has been a uniquely avid movie-going town for years. Indeed, 'Star Wars' enjoyed its longest engagements there, as the story goes). Whatever I do, I'm not going to suffer through heat this summer. This is the summer that I don't just take advantage of- it's the summer when I finally beat the heat.