The one with Kansas summers and cats

It's only the beginning of June and can I just say it's hot? I'm no stranger to hot summers. I was born and raised in Texas and its not uncommon to have week long streaks of greater than a hundred degree temperatures in the middle of summer. The thing about the heat is you get used to it. It falls below 70 and you're grabbing a sweater. I didn't know any different. It was our way of life and I had been living it since the day I was born. The Army moved us to Maryland when I was just 20. It was the first time I had ever lived outside of Texas. We drove up on the biggest snow storm they had seen in years. It snowed us in to our hotel for days. When it finally stopped the snow was so deep you could barely see the top of my car. I loved it. We were there for just six months and I flew back home to Texas for a family visit. I stepped outside of the airport and the heat took my breath away. It was unbearable. I had lived in Texas my entire life and had only been gone six months but I had already adjusted to the cooler temperatures. We lived there for three years. I fell in love with the East Coast and was so sad when we moved back to Texas. 

It would be another six years before I got the opportunity to leave Texas again and this time it was to the Pacific Northwest and Washington State. I remember before I left, a friend of mine from there told me there weren't air conditioners. Say what?!?! Now, it was a lot cooler in Maryland than it was in the south but the temperature still got high enough in the summer that you needed an AC indoors. I panicked. I hated the heat. How was I going to survive without an air conditioner? I soon found out my friend was right. We didn't need an air conditioner. The entire Pacific Northwest was our air conditioner. Nine months out of the year the temperature was mild, the rain was slight and forgettable, and on warm spring evenings or at night in the summer you just opened your window. I found a new love for the beauty of the outdoors. And a love for the mild temperatures. Let's face it. I am not cut out for the heat. 

Enter Kansas. All I can say is, thank goodness I have air conditioning! While I mournfully readjust to the heat, the cats (and the kids) are enjoying it. Here's to making memories, and getting a little much needed Vitamin D.