On the cusp

Summer is headed to North Texas. The temperatures are slowly climbing up to the nineties and the daily 90% humidity is becoming the norm.

I always get a little depressed at this time of year.

Yes, I know that sounds strange.

I’m all for sunny skies; and I tend to get a little down-in-the-dumps after three to four days of gray skies and rain.

But I much prefer fall and winter, when I can wear boots, jeans, and sweaters. I like wool coats, gloves, and warm hats.

I prefer to have a red nose because it’s cold out, not because I got sunburned.

I’ve never really liked swimming on a hot summer day (or ever, for that matter).

I don’t tan.

The only thing I love about summer is wearing sandals. (I do have an extensive collection of flip flops, wedges, and heeled sandals.)

But other than that, I’d prefer year-round temperatures between 30 and 65 degrees.

After living through four Fort Worth summers, I feel like I have a few reasons to dislike the heat and muck that this time of year brings.

1) The humidity makes my stick-straight hair extremely frizzy.
2) There is no “fresh morning air” here. Walk outside at 6 a.m. in the middle of summer and it’s already a muggy 75 degrees out, which is the same temperature it was the night before – at 10 p.m.
3) There are no cool summer evenings. See above.
4) We have months at a time when the daily high temperature is at or above 100 degrees.
5) After stepping outside, freshly showered for the day, I often want to go right back inside and shower again.
6) The summer heat lasts well into September and sometimes mid-October.
7) Mosquitoes are out in full-force.

At this time of year I always wonder why we didn’t plan any good vacations for the summer. Invariably, ever year, we wind up at home from late may through early September, depressed (and oppressed) by the heat. This year, we are going to visit Josh, Paige and Piper over Memorial Day weekend. However, that’s in North Carolina, which boasts the same kinds of high temperatures and humidity! Maybe when Abby is older and in school we’ll get our escape from the Texas heat. We’ll be forced to plan most of our vacations in the summer at that time. Alaska, here we come!

I chose to move here from a desert climate, and I knew about the humidity and warm temperatures. However, I was not prepared for the length of the summer season. I suppose that’s why I get depressed every year in mid-May. I now know that it will be a long time until I’ll get to pull out my soft, stylish wool sweaters. I know that I should put my boots in a box now, so they don’t gather dust on my closet shelves. I’ll just be dreaming about the weather here that I love: November to mid-May.

Until then, I’ll be hiding from the heat in my house, indoors at a restaurant (looking longingly at the patio), shopping indoors, at a museum, or at the movie theater. Thank goodness for air conditioning!