TheBanyanTree: Sizzling

[Margaret R. Kramer]

On hot summer days like this one, I can’t help but remember how we kept cool
when I was a kid.  There was no air conditioning, except in some of the
stores and restaurants.  We had an oscillating fan, but only one, and its
place was in the living room.  We didn’t have fans in our bedrooms.  My
mother and grandmother wouldn’t wear their shirts, so they went around the
house wearing just their bras and shorts.  We would have salads and
sandwiches for dinner so my grandma didn’t need to turn on the stove.  My
mother would have me open up her car doors so the car could air out if we
needed to go anywhere.  My little wading pool was set up and I’d spend happy
afternoon hours in it staying cool.  My mother hated to go anywhere that
wasn’t under her direct control, so going to the beach was out of the
question.  If I wanted to go to the beach, I would call up a friend and we
would ride our bikes there.  The pace of our days would slow to a crawl.

Along with TV, air conditioning has changed our summers so we don’t have to
feel its heat and slow down to its pace.  Air conditioning in our homes and
cars imprisons us.  We put a toe out the door and exclaim, “Oh, it’s too
hot.”  And we stay inside, missing the best of part of summer, the glisten
of sweat on our skin, a cooling breeze blowing through our hair, and the
smell of multi-colored flowers.  We huddle together in the house, afraid
that we’re going to melt like the wicked witch of the west if we go outside.
On these hot days, when I’m outside watering my garden and putting seeds in
the birdfeeders, I hear no children’s voices, I hear no hammer and saw
noises coming from garages; I only hear the rustle of the leaves in the
trees as summer’s sultry breezes come through and a few faint notes from
birds who have long since found mates.

We come out of our houses and ride in air conditioned cars to our air
conditioned jobs and then back home.  We feel the heat blast for only a few
minutes each summer day, but it’s enough to keep us inside.  And before we
know it, our precious summer is gone, and it’s Labor Day with cool autumn
winds not far behind.  We’re air conditioning our lives away.

Yes, Ray and I do have air conditioning.  But I try not to huddle in the
house.  I rarely use the air conditioning in my car.  It’s much more fun to
open up the sunroof and the windows and get my hair all messed up.  I’m
going to try to spend some of this day outside.  I’ll water my gardens and
fill the birdfeeders.  I’m planning to take my gimpy knee and go for a run.
I might take my laptop outside and sit in the shade on my deck and work on a
newsletter.  Ray and I will have a light supper of sandwiches and salads.
Maybe I’ll sit out on the upper deck after supper and do some reading.  I’ll
wear a tank top instead of going without my shirt.  And tomorrow we’ll go to
the beach with my son, Susan, and grandsons.  Yes, it’s summer and the
living is easy.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

http://www.bpwmn.org
Business and Professional Women of Minnesota

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not
with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a
show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw
Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.  You
may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. .  ~Erma Bombeck