Linda Miller: A horribly hot summer

Oct 17, 2023

I am too fat for summer in Mississippi, especially a summer as hot as this one has been.

Now that the high temperatures have fallen below the 90s and the heat index is not over 100, I am grateful. Still, it has been too hot.

One would think that rain would cool things off; however, when it is that hot, immediately after the rain stops it feels like you are being steam cleaned. My fat touches itself, and I am miserable.

When Tom was in the sixth grade at Higgins, the PTA raised funds for ceiling fans in the classrooms. We thought it was terrific!

However, had I been a teacher back then, I would have been less than grateful. Ceiling fans? Where’s the air conditioning? Those women taught in panty hose! Ceiling fans, indeed!

We have a fairly large homeless population in McComb. I worry about them. How can they sleep at nights? I would be sleep-deprived and very grumpy.

When our electricity was off for 11 days after Hurricane Katrina, it was awful! Sleeping was darned near impossible. After a couple of days, I got to sleep in front of a fan that was connected to the car battery somehow, and thought it was a godsend.

As a kid, I did not realize how hot it was in Mississippi when we came down in the summers. We were kids and having a good time, running around like wild animals, and were well-loved by our relatives. No problem with the heat whatsoever.

At home, we did not have air conditioning. It was hot, but not like this. Washing dishes was the main time I remember sweating, leaning over the sink of hot water. Otherwise, it was bearable.

Daddy’s car did not have air conditioning, and we were in the car for 20 hours coming to Mississippi in the summer. I do not remember it being too hot in the car.

Now, when I take the dog out for exercise and to do his business, I come back in sweating like a field hand. Sweat runs down the sides of my face and drips off my hair in the back. I smell sour, my hair stinks, and I can barely stand myself. If I have on makeup, it melts.

Growing up in Chicago and the Cincinnati area, winter coats were a must. That was one of the tremendous advantages of moving down here. I have a London Fog coat that is mid-length, and it’s all I need.

In about 2003, my oldest son sent me a mink coat that he got at an estate sale. I wore it to school one day when I was teaching at Amite County because it was really cold. That is about the most use it got as a coat.

Kya was born in 2004, and I would throw it down on the floor as a pallet for her so she could nap on it while I worked in my classroom. It was awesome for that purpose. Finally, I traded it for a pair of fingerless gloves.

Fall is already my favorite season. I can hardly wait for it this year! Winter is my next favorite, and spring is third on my list. Summer has no place in my heart. As a season, it never did.

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