Hot Already

Summer officially just arrived last week, but this year, the heat beat the solstice to town - we've been baking in temps more typical to late July and August than mid-June for the last couple of weeks already.

I've lived here for 40 (???!!!??? how did THAT happen ???) years now. You'd think somewhere in there I'd have adjusted to the climate, but every year, these first few weeks of heat and humidity have me wilting like the flowers outside when I forget to give them their daily drink of water.

The sun comes early, it comes hot. 

I have to admit - beneath my main coping strategy, which is whining to the dog about the heat, I am fearful. I read the news about the warming planet, the changing weather patterns, the intense storms. Pictures of flooded towns and stories of people dying in the heat are commonplace in my daily news feed.

I've been hearing warnings about the coming upheaval my entire adult life, now it is here. I want to throw up my hands in despair. We didn't listen and now it is too late.

Fortunately for my sanity this past week, I've been able to talk myself into getting up with the sun. I've come to rely on my time outdoors with the dog each morning to anchor my day, and if I get up and at 'em, it's still cool enough to take him for a real walk. 

I step outside into the quiet, where the loudest sounds are the morning song of the birds and the hiss of the neighbors' sprinkler systems. I breathe.

I'm not ready to give up just yet. (Not yet.) Alongside the stories of gloom, I read stories of hope. People can and do change their ways. I have today to live; today is the only day I have. I can choose to not let fear rule the day.

Trust, anyways. I'm working on it.