Friday, October 07, 2005
A Breath of Fresh Air
September is, I think, the cruelest month in Houston. From all around, cultural stimuli suggest that fall has arrived. Children return to school. Stadiums fill with football teams and fans and marching bands. Store windows boast tweeds and sweaters in autumn hues. Psychologically, after a seemingly endless summer, Texans long for relief.
Despite calendar photographs of amber aspen leaves, despite our fervent wishes, September betrays Houston with more summer swelter. This year she mocked us, too, with blistering temperatures that exceeded August's usual wrath and a glancing blow from a hurricane that compounded misery all along the Gulf Coast.
So you might have heard the collective sigh today as Houstonians threw open their doors to the first temperate weather of the season. Parks were filled with scampering children and their beaming parents, many shivering in the overcast morning. After weeks of insufferable heat, it's hard for many of us to imagine that layers and jackets and bluejeans really are, once again, the order of the day.
I ventured into the cool air this morning with Boo in my arms. His eyes grew wide. He looked skyward and began to wave his hand through the air as if welcoming home a long lost friend. "Cold!" he exclaimed in awe. I imagine his young mind couldn't even recall such glorious weather. "Do you like the cool air, Boo?" He nodded enthusiastically. Don't we all? Ahhhhh....
Despite calendar photographs of amber aspen leaves, despite our fervent wishes, September betrays Houston with more summer swelter. This year she mocked us, too, with blistering temperatures that exceeded August's usual wrath and a glancing blow from a hurricane that compounded misery all along the Gulf Coast.
So you might have heard the collective sigh today as Houstonians threw open their doors to the first temperate weather of the season. Parks were filled with scampering children and their beaming parents, many shivering in the overcast morning. After weeks of insufferable heat, it's hard for many of us to imagine that layers and jackets and bluejeans really are, once again, the order of the day.
I ventured into the cool air this morning with Boo in my arms. His eyes grew wide. He looked skyward and began to wave his hand through the air as if welcoming home a long lost friend. "Cold!" he exclaimed in awe. I imagine his young mind couldn't even recall such glorious weather. "Do you like the cool air, Boo?" He nodded enthusiastically. Don't we all? Ahhhhh....
2 Comments:
How well I remember those first days of cool autumn weather each year. I'm so happy for you that they've finally arrived. I imagine that, until yesterday, Boo's remembered experience told him that inside=cool, outside=hot. What a lovely surprise for him.
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