Friday the 13th

I only realized about an hour ago that it's Friday the 13^th. Hmm. It's amazing how separated you can get from reality when you're not working five days a week! I did know it was Friday, so I guess I get points for that.

Our heat wave finally broke, and we woke up to 56 degree temps this morning. How refreshing! The doors and windows have been open all day. Our morning walk was on the edge of chilly when we got into the shade – thermometer in the car said it was 65 then. It's been refreshing and energizing.

I took advantage of that energy to clean the house and do three loads of laundry. We enjoyed eating lunch on our screened-in back porch. I spent some time this afternoon typing up lecture notes from my online class. I sat up at a table on the north side of our house and sat in front of an open window. The breeze was wonderful. We should sleep well tonight.

I've always enjoyed having a cool environment for sleeping. I was a December baby, and from what I hear the summer of 1953 was pretty hot. The folks had a little fan that Mom would put on for my naptime. Evidently, that was a very formative time in my life. Ever since then, I've slept better when there is a fan on.

I like it cool when I sleep. I also prefer to sleep as much as possible with a fan on – I'm lulled to sleep by the sound of the fan. I always enjoyed those first warm nights in the spring when I could drag my fan out and sleep with it on. If we had a cold snap in the summer – I'd still turn my fan on and pull all the covers up. I'd wait as long as I could in the fall before I would give in and put the fan away.

Going to college was tough. I was first on the top floor of the dorm, in the back corner. There was no air conditioning. I had my fan...but it was August....heat rises....the windows were small and were the type that open vertically with a crank handles. And I was in a strange place, a strange (very uncomfortable) bed, and a roommate who liked to stay up all night. I was very, very tired for what seemed like a long time.....until another room opened up that I could move to with a friend. The new room was still on the third floor, but it had different windows that I could open and set the fan in the window. I was so much more comfortable and could sleep.

I had one summer baby and two winter babies. The summer baby was early, small, and we had no heat problems. The other two, though, were born hot. My son couldn't sleep in the basinette because it was too hot for him. He broke out in heat rash. Even though he was born on New Year's Eve, I could only dress him in lightweight clothes and use receiving blankets. He simply couldn't tolerate heat. Three years and six days later, the youngest one was born. I started her out in a baby bed – and when she was four days old, she started breaking out in a heat rash (that would be on January 10).

I had learned enough with my son that I immediately undressed her until she cooled down, redressed her in lightweight clothes and ditched the heavy blankets. To this day, 30-some years later, neither one of them can sleep when it's hot. Maybe it has something to do with being born in the winter.

Anyway, Friday the 13^th or not, it's been a pretty comfortable day. Hope everyone has a good night's sleep, and happy weekend.