Heat

Ice, ice-cream, water (icy, cold), popsicle sticks, and a camera. That's all you need to cool off the hot weather. Today at about 1:20, we realized the thermometer had risen all the way to 115 degrees. Every time we stepped out into the sun, we could feel the heat melting away our skin. I could feel my body cursing me for the time I was spending time outdoors. It wasn't really under direct sunlight but the heat waves always found their way onto my skin, onto the pavement, and near the curb. No fan, no A.C, no other means of cooling off. I remembered the time when my family and I visited the villages of Iran. My grandparents had grown up there during the late 1930s. I wanted to see their house, their life, and basically where they first began our generation; this generation. As we were walking in the streets of the village, I could feel the sun greeting me with one of her warmest hugs. She was squeezing the breath out of me and I wondered what the temperature was. At the time I did not understand how thermometers work but I recall the numbers 130. 130 degrees! Dehydration became my friend in the busy streets of this village (a name that I can neither pronounce or spell). My heart was beating fast and my breath was quick and heavy. I remember closing my eyes as the heat waves drifted across my face burning it. This feeling was very, very familiar today.