So Spoiled!

I am so spoiled.  We've been without air-conditioning for two days now and we're in the middle of a heat wave here on my country mile.  We're doing everything we know to keep the house cool but by 4:30 in the afternoon we hit 28.6 degrees -- inside!  Of course, that's when it was 34.6 outside, so technically it was cooler in the house.

Today, I'm writing in the noon hour; we're waiting for the air-conditioning guy (whom I'm tempted to hug when he arrives); and it's 35 degrees outside.  Our house is humid from our attempts to cool it with open windows overnight and fans pulling in moist air.  And it's already 27 degrees in here.  No one slept much and no one has energy for much of the work that needs to be done.  I'm on holidays for a couple of days yet and feeling a little frustrated that all the things I wanted to do are not happening.

This is about all that's happening at my house right now.

I really am spoiled.  Do you hear the whine in my voice?  After years of taking climate control in my house for granted, I'm having a taste of reality for a few days.  There are some folks, even here near the end of my country mile, who have to live like this all the time - some out of choice, others out of necessity.  And there are other brave and patient souls who live in places in the world where our "heat wave" temperatures are the normal conditions and they manage to get on with life.  I'm just waiting for it to be over, so I can get "back to normal."  Yes, I really am spoiled.

So, while I hate to admit it, this is probably good for me.  It should, at the very least, make me a little more appreciative of how good I have it most of the time.  How, I wonder, did my mother raise six of us kids, tend a huge garden, keep up with all that laundry, bake all our bread and buns, and produce healthy delicious meals every day -- when air-conditioning was not the norm and only the very wealthy enjoyed its benefits?  My mother, now comfortable in her well-deserved air-conditioned home, is my hero.  Thinking of what she accomplished makes me realize it all over again:  I really am spoiled!