Hot Summer Nights.....

It was 108 degrees in beautiful Columbia, SC today.  Yesterday, it was 109 degrees!!! Ugh.....I hate the heat......

When I was a kid, if it was hot my parents would take us for a ride in the car.  We would all pile into the station wagon.  Our destination unknown.....we would go where ever Dad decided.  Of course, we had no air conditioning in the car.  We would ride with all the windows open.  Any breeze even a hot one was better than the still air and heat.  My parents didn't own an air conditioner until after I got married.  When I was at home, we would keep the windows open and put a box fan in the window.  At least the air would circulate around the room.  Whether it was in the 5th floor walkup apartment in the Bronx to the 2 family house in Pelham Bay or to our home in Pearl River......there were no ceiling fans or air conditioners. 

Some nights my parents would take us to the drive-in movies.  We kids would get to play until the movie started and would eventually fall asleep in the back of the station wagon.  We would hardly wake when we got home and our parents had to herd us up to our apartment. 

I remember laying in my bed being so hot and just wanting to fall asleep to escape the heat.

Once my father gave in and bought an air conditioner he loved it.  In fact, the summer I was pregnant with Jenn there was a heat wave.  The apartment we lived in was so hot.  I would spend many an evening in the tub in cool water just to get some relief.  I was still taking a train and subway to the office and by the time I got home I was pretty wiped out.  It wasn't often you were offered a seat on the subway when you were pregnant. Dad insisted I get an air condiitoner.....in fact he paid for it.  So I could sleep.  We set it up in the bedroom and that became my sanctuary.  I would eat, watch TV, talk on the phone and sleep all in the room with the air conditioner.

Tonight, after a brutally hot day......I decided to take a ride to go to the bank and post office.  Jenn came along so we could stop at our friends house on the way home and let their dog out for the last time for the day (we are dog sitting).  As I drove down the hill toward downtown, I could see fireworks going off at a local baseball game.....we stopped for a few minutes to watch.  We did my errands and drove through the Vista and 5 Points.....just to be out in the car with the a/c running full blast felt good.  While our friends dog was running around the backyard, I started to think about those hot summer evenings of my childhood.

At least tonight when I walked back into the house it was comfortable.  It is going to be super hot again tomorrow and the next day too.  Well it is summer in South Carolina and that's life in Columbia, SC so you think I would be used to it by now.........

Tonight when I go to sleep........I will be thinking of me as a little girl trying so hard to go to sleep in the heat to the sound of the blades moving in that box fan...........and I will rememebr those hot summer night rides with my dad at the wheel and destination unknown ........