It's hot

I am HOT. And not in that twenty-something way that for some reason is a compliment these days. NO, hot as in--I'm a 47 year-old, menopausal woman, and the airconditioning has not worked for a week. Yes, that is right...a solid week. I'm not sure if the heat, the humidity, or the constant droning squeal of the heretofore seldom used ceiling fans will drive me crazy faster.

The a/c nicely decided to break on my birthday a week ago. Have I mentioned that it has been A WEEK?? Seven days....but why isn't it fixed, you asked?

Reason number one: Our house has two units. The one in the loftily named (but sadly lacking) "kids' wing" is working. Of course it's working. I usually barely turn it on. Why should skinny little kids run up my electric bill when they aren't menopausal and together weight less than half what I do? Needless to say, it's cranking now, and I have slept in Sweet Girl's bed for several days now. (Pretty comfy once the 2,000 stuffed toys have been flung on the floor.)

DH figured that with one side of the herewegoagain mansion cool, I could stand to wait a few days as we got estimates, decided what to do, when to do it, etc...which leads me to...

Reason number two: Mr. Herewegoagain is actually a lizard. Or anyway, some sort of creature that loves heat, revels in humidity and secretly is rejoicing that the house is now a constant 88 with 90 percent humidity. I think he has even referred to the ceiling fan squeal as "white noise". HE's happy. Why fix it?

I did point out to him that if we didn't fix it, we wouldn't have a heater come winter. HE pointed out to me that I never let him turn the heater on anyway. Um. yeah.

So, as I sit typing this blog, wiping sweat off my brow, I am realizing that most of the South has no real idea of how HOT it is out there. Yes, we all feel the heat just before getting into our air-conditioned cars. Or just before walking into our cool living rooms. Let me tell you, as I sit here, as I ponder the great strides made during 20th century, air-conditioning tops it all. By a long, hot shot.

It is so much hotter inside than out, and it makes me remember my mother's stories of summer. "We just knew it was summer. We didn't fight it with air-conditioning. We drank iced tea and lemonade, sat on the porch, fanned ourselves, and knew it was hot. We swam a lot. We ate cold fried chicken. We strolled, never ran, and certainly didn't bike". That all sounds good, but she left out the sweat dripping between the shoulder blades and the crankiness of almost-fifty-something women. Aunt Bea? She was hot. And when she was off screen, I would bet big money she was CRANKY.

They come tomorrow to fix it. It will be $1,500 for maybe 15 more days of hot weather. Totally, 100 percent, completely worth it.