Nationally and worldwide, we are experiencing a heat wave like no other in history. In Denver, where I just spent a three-day weekend, it was ninety-five degrees outside every day. It was so hot I could hardly walk, hardly think, hardly able to make decisions, and for the first time in years I experienced actual sweating. But when inside I couldn’t stay warm enough. The people I was visiting, who so wonderfully welcomed me and fed me and took care of me, kept their air conditioning up so high my whole body shook from the cold. The wind on my face – the only uncovered part of me in bed one night – kept me from sleeping.
I also felt that way – absolutely freezing with a blanket on me – going to and from Denver on the plane. The weather has kept me out of balance, something I’ve never thought about so much before these last few days.
I’m better back in Los Angeles. I actually felt a bit of a chill when I went out for my early morning walk today. That was a welcome relief that allowed me to walk my usual fast pace without wobbling and getting exhausted whereas two days ago I thought I was really losing it. Losing my ability to walk straight, to walk fast, to meet my step goals. And at my age, that scares me. So many people I see where I live are incapacitated and unable to walk on their own, that the thought of that happening to me, makes me crazy. There’s no way to turn that around – once incapacitated, always incapacitated.
Getting old is the scary part and anything that speeds it up – like the weather we’re having now – makes it worse.
So let’s hope this heat wave goes away soon – so we can all live a better balanced life.
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