300(ish) Words on 100-Degree Heat
If you’re anywhere but a place that abides deeply by central air-conditioning in every indoor space, then this might sound obnoxious. But you often find yourself cold on a 100-degree day. This doesn’t bode well with balancing out the psyche because cold means anxiety, contracting your body inward, staring out a window that’s never opened at a sky so hot it’s hazy. My arms and legs get burned through car windows, and my face looks like a perpetual Margaritaville patron. This summer, I couldn’t make it through any other way.
People have talked about the vibes being off, and of course they’re off. Once that phrase has to be said, they’ve probably been off. 100-degree heat has been my steady presence since I was born. Anyone who lives in a place where July and August are spent in 100-degree temperatures knows this heat and has their own ways of dealing with it. Delirious heat and extremely cold AC are the only consistent vibes I’ve known for my entire 31 years on earth. It’s something to count on during a season when I haven’t been able to count on much.
Driving in this heat makes you loopy, and your eyes hurt from sun reflecting off hoods and highways and construction equipment. If you drive long enough in it, all you can do shortly after is take a headache-y nap in your 73-degree carpeted bedroom. This nearly goes without saying, but the blessing of it is that you cannot think much in this kind of heat. 100 degrees, for this reason, is healing as it is damaging. My left arm keeps burning as it rests on the driver’s side door, which is not healthy and gives it a lizard’s skin appearance. This summer, that’s just how it has to be.
