Heatis Envy: Don't Be a Hater

I just rolled in this morning after a red-eye back from California. I was there for a family issue (not vacation), but it didn't hurt that I inadvertently picked the one week where my home town had at least a cumulative 12 inches of snow, with temperatures so fah-rrrrreeeezing people were whimpering as they ran from their parked cars into the grocery store and back.

And as much as I've hated it when friends or family down south or to the west taunt me with their lazy, hazy, crazy summer-like temperatures during our coldest days, I must confess I fell right into the trap. I bragged. I was obnoxious with my superior heat. I reveled in the knowledge that I was wearing sandals and sunning on a terrace when I knew that my pals in the east were shivering, booted, padded, gloved and hatted. I liked knowing that we could - think of it! - jump in the car in the morning without defrosting the windows.

But know this: I got my comeuppance. While I was enjoying the warm kiss of San Francisco climes, a pipe burst in my house in Maryland. Yep. That's one of those things that offer perfect "gotcha" symmetry, and in my youth such a cosmic smack-down would have been met with my mother's standard phrase: "God is punishing you." I am chastened by the experience, and I swear I won't show anyone my tan lines this week, lest more pestilence rain down on me. But if you want to see my daily pictures of the 70+ temp on the outdoor thermometer, just let me know. What could possibly happen?

© 2015 A Bit of Brie/Anitabrie