It's Been Too Long...
This past week has really taken a lot out of me. The heat and humidity up here has been almost more than I can bear and it's left me feeling so disgusting and exhausted.
Last weekend was good. My brother turned 27 on the 21st but finally made it into town over the weekend and I took him to see Clerks II - a movie my sister-in-law wouldn't want to see - and we were able to be just brothers without throwing in the other parts of our family to distract us. It was a really fun afternoon, I must say. We had lunch with our dad and then headed to the mall for the movie. We had the windows down, the music up, and no obligations until dinner.
Saturday was one of those lazy days where I did nothing but watch movies. Sunday I went to a water park with a friend and a couple of youth from my old church. It was a relaxing day for the most part - floating around the lazy river on a tube and bobbing up and down in their wave pool. The only down side was that I put on my sun screen before taking off my shoes which left large dark red burns on the tops of my feet. Summer is definitely here. There must be a rule somewhere that says I have to get burned at least once every year and this time it was my feet's turn.
After the water park we headed down to hear the symphony play at Rome, NY's Honor America Days. It was a fun evening, despite how loud the speakers were. It was nice to hear the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra again. I had a chance to sing with them for their Holiday Pops concert when I was in high school.
The rest of the week is somewhat lost in a haze. The weather's been terrible and I've been so lethargic. It feels like I haven't done much of anything all week, yet, this humidity makes it near impossible to actually sleep. Go figure.
When I was a kid, on hot nights we would lay out some blankets on the floor in front of a box fan and clothes pin a bed sheet to the fan to act as a canopy, I suppose to help direct the flow of the fan right onto us. Not only was it a really good way to keep cool, I found that the gentle billowing of the sheet was quite relaxing as well. So, at the height of this week's heat, when I just could not get comfortable, I laid out all of my blankets on the floor to make a soft pad by my bedroom window, installed an old window fan my parents gave me at one end and my oscillating fan at the other with a sheet clipped to a chair, one of the fans, and the pull string from my mini-blinds.
It's amazing how something so simple from my childhood did so much. I certainly noticed the difference in temperature due to the flow of air under the sheet but the memories of my younger summers eased my restlessness as well. I may just keep things that way for a few more days, even though we're heading for more tolerable weather, just to feel that calm for a little while longer.
