Thursday, February 21, 2008

Local Global Warming


“You’re getting warmer!”


No, it’s not the child’s game of hot and cold. Actually, that might be nice . . . to have the opportunity to get cold. For me, though, I am just suffering through as many women do. My first hot flash came as quite a surprise. It was a year ago and I was traveling to visit my son, Jed in Colorado. It was a Southwest flight which means I had to wait in line, a lot. I’m in that line at Midway, on a snowy March day and I’m stripping my layers . . . first the coat, then the sweater, Thank God this sweater set is sleeveless and if I could take that off , I would. Anyway, I look around and realize I have potentially made a spectacle of myself as everyone else is all bundled up in earmuffs and Ugg boots.


Getting ready for an evening out now includes a new routine: the fan that is carefully placed to keep the sweat from forming on my brow. Have you ever tried applying foundation on a dewy glow? When you are finished you look as if you should be wearing an Elizabethan collar. I used to dry my hair after the makeup but no longer; too much heat. No, I dry ahead of the makeup process but have to be sure to apply sufficient shellac to my hair or the curls blow away . . . another by-product of this change-of-life; the loosening of the curly hair.


Nighttime is another ordeal. My new husband, Stewart is a teddy bear and as such, he likes contact. Hey, I like it too…but not so much, as of late. Sleeping in the same bed with Stewart now is like cuddling up to a volcano. I get close, I touch, I roll away. Toward the early hours of the morning, I try to regulate my temperature and still continue to sleep by kicking extremities out from under the covers: first a hand, then a foot . . . too cold, OK, try just the foot . . . nope, try two hands . . . Oh, Dang!, now I have to pee! I am up, the cat is angry I have kicked him off the bed and the light from the street lamp has reset my internal clock and I am fully awake. Why haven’t I made that commitment to my design friend, Brea, to get black-out drapes in my bedroom? Berating myself for my lack of follow through on decorating, I cuddle up to Stewart . . . it feels great! Twenty seconds later, I roll away and fling a foot from beneath the blankets . . .

4 comments:

  1. I can SO identify with an arm, leg, or foot out from under the covers! Makes no sense....I'm either too hot or too cold!

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  2. I'm with ya too, sis. I'm beginning to wonder if Goldilocks and the three Bears is really about a woman in the change of her life: too hot, too cold, just right!
    On that note, an airline pilot we both know said that at one point airlines installed fake thermostats to regulate cabin temperature...because the flight attendants of a certain age were often complaining about the temperature....just like goldilocks....

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  3. I still wake up in the middle of the night to turn down the thermostat. Wish I could turn down the body thermostat!!

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  4. Oh, I feel so studid.....Jed, Stewart. NOW I get it!

    CA (Too embarrassed to put my name!)

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