Forget the calendar, summer starts today.
We are expected to break the 90-degree mark today. It was 73 degrees at 6:30 this morning. To me, that signals summer, despite the fact that we won't officially hit summer until Saturday.
How do I define summer? When I can arrive home after driving home from work, toss on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, and luxuriate in the last hour or so of sunlight while sitting on the deck, preferably with the Phillies game on the radio.
In other words, the hotter the better. Humidity? Bring it on. I wear that thick cloak of heavy air as a gift, especially after the winter we just endured.
Air-conditioning? No thanks. I hate it.
My teeth are chattering here in the office as I bang out this blog item, because it's usually unbearably cold out. I'm that guy you see driving home at night with his car windows down. I don't use the air in the car, unless my wife is in the passenger seat. She's not exactly as fond of this weather as I am.
She is usually safely tucked inside our air-conditioned home - having finally told me she can no longer tolerate the heat - while I sit outside amidst the glorious, oppressive humidity.
There was a time when we used to have a screened-in porch, a throwback to the house I grew up in, and a feature I dearly loved. My wife and kids used to stand in the kitchen and stare out through the closed French door to be sure I was still alive as I sat out on that porch in the summer. Regardless how hot, they knew where they could find me.
Then my wife got the idea to convert the screened-in porch into a sunroom. I'm still mourning.
We added a deck, but it's not quite the same. The skeeters are hell. But they won't chase me inside.
Let's raise a glass to summer - and to the rising temperatures.
Hot stuff? Count me in.
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