Summer

I used to like summer. I used to like Texas. I used to like a lot of things really. As we get older and our preferences continue to shift it can be fun to stop every now and then to take stock of who we are now, kind of like an introspective inventory. It can be fun, but it can also disrupt everything and everyone around us. Sometimes people leave their lives or their partners behind. Sometimes it's a career change or getting a new kind of pet. It can be really positive too, like deciding to get healthier, give up a vice or leave an abusive relationship. 

Me? I'm mostly just tired of the heat. Texas has become a hotbed of crazy over the last few decades and the triple-digit temps don't help anyone keep their cool. I'm probably well into the second half of my life and I just don't want to be this hot anymore. It's stupid. Most of my summer is spent indoors waiting for summer to be over. It's no way to live. There's always a good trip to the lake if you're early enough or a nice evening stroll if you're up that late. 

When I was a kid growing up just south of Houston, we didn't have air conditioning (until I was around 14 I think). At the time, I didn't really know any different so it wasn't a big deal. But now, I'm so hooked on air conditioning I start to tense up at just the thought of being without it for a day when the rolling brownouts from the incompetent Texas energy grid (ERCOT) start coming through town. Which then makes me feel weak and guilty because so many people out there survive without it. 

And then there's global warming and the people that still "don't believe in it". The funny thing about facts is, they don't really care if you believe in them or not. It's hot, and getting hotter. And I'm getting older and crankier, apparently.