Weather Issues

You never really miss rainfall until you're put in a situation where you go without it for roughly three months. Meanwhile, the sky is bright blue, sunny, and cloudless. Oh, and the temperature averages 103 degrees.

My Fair Lady, my parents and I went to Planet Hou-ston this weekend to visit my relatives and it rained there non-stop. It also looked like it had been raining for the last year because everywhere we looked the vegetation was a lush verdant green. Amidst endless complaints (from both of us) regarding our frizzed-out hair, we had a very fun time. My Fair Lady though failed to heed my (endless) warnings of how my family loves everything cold and to dress appropriately. The four hour drive down resulted in My Fair Lady wearing my dress coat because the vent in the front of the suburban was pointed right at her.

My former roommate and his wife love reminding me of how much I hate the cold, yet they've been unaware of the specific nature of my dislike for it. It's not that I outright hate cold weather by itself, it's that I don't like to be unprepared for it. In Texas we have hot weather followed by six weeks or so of cool to cold weather, then the barometer soars back up to hot again. I'm fine with that as it means there's only six weeks or so of the year when I'm uncomfortable. But the flip side to that is we don't stock up on cold weather clothes here since they are largely unnecessary. Were I to live in Quebec or Chicago then I would have the appropriate wardrobe and attitude since cold there is expected.

Where my hatred was born though was in my mother's household. If it's 105 outside, it's at least 68 in her house. If it was 73 outside, it was between 65 and 68 in the house. Every. Damn. Day. My aunt's house in Planet Hou-ston was exactly the same this weekend, and the suburban we rode in was frozen out too. Grow up in a household like that with a natural aversion to cold and see how you feel once you get out of there. My Fair Lady asked recently why we never covered up in blankets, to which I casually asked her to point out how many blankets she saw in the house. She thought about it for a second, then noticed there were none. I nodded and said, "Exactly my point."

Obviously that was a heck of a digression away from the much needed rain currently soaking DFW courtesy of a storm system that hit Sunday as we drove back to town. Along the way we hit a patch where the temperature was 107 out. By the time we again stood on our doorstep it said 77. Any more of this and we'll have to stock up on wood and hot chocolate. But at least the ground is getting soaked, and the entirety of Dallas is no longer a fire hazard. At least until the heat returns, which should be around Wednesday.