Beat the heat!

It has been hot in our neck of the woods.

105 degrees hot!

I hate the heat and I especially hate the heat when the power goes out.

Yesterday, around 5:00 p.m. the power mysteriously did just that.

Poof!

Off went our little window air conditioner! Off went the refrigerator, along with our meat packed freezer!

Now, I don't mind sweating the evening out; but losing everything in the freezer and the refrigerator was almost too much for me to bear. I mean, can you imagine the cost of replacing all of those items? Just thinking about it was enough to send my heat addled brain a'spinning.

As luck would have it, the power did turn back on a few hours later.... and the funny thing was, when it did, we failed to even notice.

Why?

By that time, half of our neighborhood had crammed itself into our 15 feet by 3 and 1/2 feet deep Intex Easy Set pool!

One by one, folks followed the sounds of splashing water. Some brought cold drinks with ice, others carried over their prized H2O melons ready for slicing, a bag or two of chips materialized and the party began.

It was a sweet time filled with laughter, and splashing, intermixed with some very interesting conversation.

I don't know how it is for all of you; but when the temperature soars to 105, the neighborhood goes dead. Nothing moves. It's as if the very air itself weighs too much for our fragile human bodies to bear...so we all shutter up our windows, and move inside to our air conditioned homes.

Last night, the interruption of power literally drove us out of our homes and into that heat heavy and hostile environment.

Neighbors who had formerly been seperated by the heat, as if imprisoned within their air conditioned homes were driven outside and into the community that had long since been stilled by all 105 of those sweltering degrees.

I would not wish this on anyone. Heat kills.

...and yet, something wonderful happened for the three hours we were without power. Our little corner of the world came together and our commiseration became a celebration.

It was a wonderful evening and when one of the children pointed out to us that our kitchen lights were back on, one by one, we extricated ourselves from the pool. Watermelon rinds slipped into garbage bags, slushy ice coolers were emptied, and in my pool cooled contentment I watched as our neighbors marched back to their own homes.

Again, heat kills.

It kills animals and plants and people; and if we aren't careful, it can also kill our joy in community, because heat somehow functions to seperate and to divide us from one another.

But NOT this time!

No, for a brief period, the heat drew us all together and life was sweet, and good, and summer-like in an old fashioned kind of way that reminded me of my own youth, when basements were our equivalants to central air conditioning.

My friends, help keep your neighbors safe this summer.

Don't let the summer heat rob you of either life, or community.

Let's all beat the heat together!