Thursday Funnies (and Other Randomness)

Yesterday was a hot one. Today was also a hot one. Tomorrow will most likely be a hot one. Are you sensing a trend yet?

It’s called summer. It’s like stepping out the front door into an oven. Except in my case living in Tennessee, it’s like an exceptionally moist oven. That’s because it’s very humid.

If it were 100 degrees with no humidity, I could adjust. I could learn to live with heat. But humidity is just not fair. It’s especially unfair to people (like me) with curly hair who just want to look normal and not like an alpaca who stuck its finger in an electrical socket.

But there is still a lot of summer to go. Officially, we have until September 21, but as everyone in Tennessee knows, hot weather is here until at least October. Maybe longer.

So my advice is to drink lots of water, wear sunscreen, and stay inside from 2 pm until November 2 (or maybe longer depending on the outcome of the election).

I see people in the heat wearing hoodies and jackets and long sleeves. I’m not judging, but why? It’s already heat stroke weather. There’s a heat advisory. If it’s me, I’m not adding to the risk. I mean you can wear all the layers and polyester you want. It’s a free country, but just know I will be sweating all the more when I see you bundled up in 95 degree heat.

But fall is coming. My favorite season because it’s not too hot, not too cold. Plus, you can legitimately wear hoodies and flannel and not die.

By the way, I get equally annoyed when I see people in t-shirts and gym shorts in the middle of winter. That’s just as dumb in my humble opinion.

But because we all made it through another week of living in a sauna, I brought you a joke to enjoy. Hope you like it.

September Song

Hello-September-Graphic

“By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather,
And autumn’s best of cheer.

But none of all this beauty
Which floods the earth and air
Is unto me the secret
Which makes September fair.

‘T is a thing which I remember;
To name it thrills me yet:
One day of one September
I never can forget”

(Helen Hunt Jackson).

September is here. That means that all my checks that I write this month– both of them– will have a 9 for the date instead of an 8.

September still means hot weather. We are talking about Tennessee weather where summer sticks around like the unwanted house guests from old movie Madhouse (starring John Larroquette and Kirstie Alley). Seriously, it won’t leave.

It also means that fall and everything pumpkin spice is just around the corner. Soon enough, the weather will turn crisp and the leaves will turn golden and autumn will make a quiet and solemn entrance.

September means a much-needed holiday weekend that 99% of the working world has been looking forward to since July. For real.

September means that we are closer to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas– the holy trinity of holidays for retailers.

It’s easy to get so caught up in wanting to jump forward to the next season that you forget to pay attention to the present. You can be so fixated on the future that you auto-pilot through the present.

I’m reading an excellent book called Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day. The goal is to live intentionally and mindfully through each day, so that you don’t miss what God is saying to you in the present moment.

To slow down and savor life is hard. It’s easy to want to rush through the day to get to the evening. It’s just as easy to blow through week to get to Friday. In that way, the days turn into weeks that turn into months that slip by unlived and unloved.

I’m looking forward to all the pumpkin spice, bonfires, s’mores, flannel, and crisp air that I can lay my hands on, but I’m also looking forward to tomorrow. I want it to become the best today possible.