Hello Again

Tonight is the night. 

Every night for more than three months, before I claw my way to bed, I think, "Tonight I will do a post.  I will.  I've got things to say, stories to tell.  I've got people waiting for me to post more.  Tonight I will do it."  And what happens?  I fall into bed exhausted and think to myself, "Tomorrow I won't be so tired." 

Well, tonight is the night.  Here I am.  I am back. 

I do have a lot of stories to tell.  We took two trips last spring that haven't made an appearance on the blog yet, Everett had a birthday and a birthday party, Catherine started walking, then we went home for the summer, and now Everett has started kindergarten.  It's going to be a long haul to get this blog caught up.  So I'm going to start small, mostly in order not to feel too overwhelmed.  Let's start with today, and then I'll work on picking up where I left off. 

The big news for today is OH MY GOD IT IS SO OPPRESSIVELY HOT THAT THE ENTIRE WORLD IS A SAUNA ON HIGH HEAT.  I am one of those cold-blooded reptile people.  I am never hot.  I never really sweat at all.  At home in the summer, I always wish it was just a hair hotter, even on the hottest, most humid days, and I am freezing to death in the grocery store or the preschool or basically any building with air conditioning.  Yes, I am that person who always carries a sweater or jacket in the summer.  But WOW.  We've been back in Saudi for a little more than two weeks now, and EVERY SINGLE DAY has been UNIMAGINABLY HOT.  As in, too hot even for me.  And that is saying something.  

The problem is the humidity.  I don't mind at all if its 112 degrees outside.  Feels good to me.  Yeah, um, until you add **100% humidity.**  I have never ever sweat so much in my entire life.  I think I have sweat more in the last two weeks than I have every day of my life up to that point combined.  Here's a sliver of our day to demonstrate:

I have to walk Everett back and forth to school four times a day.  Once to go, then 10:45 pickup for lunch, then 12:30 return (so far Mike has handled this one!) and 3:00 pickup.  We load the little ones in the double stroller and head out on our way.  And it's hot.  And the stroller is heavy because Lawrence is enormous for his age.  By the time I get to the school, wait outside for 10 minutes, and get home, I have just about lost all of my bodily fluid.  As we head up the driveway, I open the garage and heave the stroller inside into cool, blessed relief.  It feels so much better in there!  We close the door as soon as we are in to keep the cool air in, and we all revel in the cool and in the renewed ability to breathe.  I check the thermometer that we keep in the garage.  It's reading 96 degrees. 

Wow. 

Inside the house, it's 73.  It feels like it's walking into the arctic in December.   I am so wet that I start shivering and I have to get a beach towel to mop up my face and arms. 

But God forbid you should have to get into the CAR after getting home from school.  Instead of the cool, refreshing garage, you get slammed with the inner circle of hell when you open the door.  Stick your head inside to start the ignition to get the ac going, and when you draw your head back out, the 112 with 100% humidity seems nice and balmy.  Maybe I should put that garage thermometer in the car to see how hot it is in there. 

Well, maybe not.  I'm sure it doesn't go high enough. 

Anyway, the point is, I have always wanted to experience REALLY HOT weather to see what it felt like and if I can hack it.  The answer is that it's (surprise!) uncomfortable.  But I will say that I think I handle it better than most people.  And I'll take this over a nasty, cold winter any day.  Only a month more until we dip down into the 90s.  Hooray!