I have a whole new appreciation for my friends and family who live in the south.
My grandson, Liam, spent a week with Grammy and Grampy this summer. We had a fantastic time going to the beach and having S’mores over a camp fire. There were plenty of laughs and giggles and story time and slumber parties.
When it came time for him to go home, the plan was for me to escort him back to Texas.
We left Boston last Wednesday at 6 a.m. which necessitated a 2:15 a.m. wake up call. Yeah! THAT was fun!
Liam was a great traveler which is no surprise since he’s been traveling since he was two.
We flew Boston to Dallas and then Dallas to Corpus Christi. There is no direct flight to Corpus. If we try to fly from Providence you have to add another flight. On the way home I’m going from Corpus to Houston. Houston to Baltimore and Baltimore to Providence. It’s about a 12-hour travel day.
Since there’s no easy way here I figured I would spend a few days with family instead of turning right around and heading back.
I’ve been reminded of why we usually never come here in the summer. It’s hot! I mean HOT! I usually love hot weather but this? My daughter, Sarah, calls it living in Satan’s armpit! 98 degrees with a dew point of 76. If you’re not familiar with dew points, anything above 65 degrees is considered uncomfortable. And this? This is uncomfortable. Oh and the heat index is often over 100.
If you’re a new reader you might be asking, “Then why do they live there?” Well that’s because the U.S. Navy told them to. My son-in-law is an air traffic controller with the Navy and young pilots train at Corpus Christi and where he is stationed in Kingsville, Texas.
I usually visit in March when the weather is terrific. It can be in the 50s at night but then 83 by noon. Now it’s 85 at night and 96 by noon. Every. Day.
The other night I asked my daughter when the heat usually breaks. She said Halloween is usually more comfortable and it’s definitely cooler at Thanksgiving. My son-in-law told me they can get a couple of days where it is cold. That’s usually at the end of January.
The neighbors were panicking last year when the temperatures went into the 20s. My daughter told her friend, “If you ever see me wearing my long Northface coat, don’t go outside. I’m used to that. You’re not.”
The Astros have a minor league team in Corpus Christi and I thought it would be fun to go to a game Friday night. Then Friday came and it was still 92 at 6 p.m. Yeah we stayed in the AC and watched a movie.
I like to sit on their back porch and enjoy my coffee in the morning in March. Not so much in August.
I was sitting at the dining room table the other morning with my coffee when I noticed a new house being built down the road. I felt so bad for that roofer who was working in this heat! One of my uncles used to be a roofer here in New England and he told me it was a struggle in the summer. I can’t imagine him working in this heat.
I also saw a guy jogging at high noon yesterday when it was 94! My daughter jogs but that’s usually at 5 a.m.
I guess you just go from your air-conditioned house to your air-conditioned car then the air-conditioned store or restaurant. And you know how we use the automatic starter to warm up our car with the heat turned on? They use the automatic starter to get the AC going.
I have friends and family in the Tampa area. Also friends that just moved to Tucson. I found myself thinking of them this week. I don’t know how you do it!
A former colleague was working for a radio station in Norfolk, Virginia where it also gets hot. I asked him once how he deals with it and he explained it this way. He said, “You know how you stay indoors in December, January and February in New England?Down here it’s June, July and August. You just have to flip the calendar a bit.”
My son-in-law here in Texas likes to play golf, but in the summer? Not so much. If he does play it’s early in the morning and only nine holes. In fact, they have a course here that’s lit up like a baseball field so you can play at night. It’s a little cooler but not much.
When the weather turns cold and blustery in New England I’ve often thought about what it would be like to live in the south. It would be nice in the winter but after this week … yeah I think I’ll pass on the summer.
For those of you that live in this year round I salute you!
I fly home Tuesday and I just saw that the temperatures will be in the 70s Tuesday night. I better have my wife bring me a hoodie. Maybe my sweatpants.
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