Hot vs. Cold

I'm almost always hot. Now depending on who is reading this you may be thinking I'm referring to my physical appearance in which case right now you are either saying "Boy, howdie!" or "Eh, wrong!" For those of you who processed that first sentence and thought the former- YOUR SOOO SWEET (I'm blushing). For those whose brain waves took them straight to the latter, I AIN'T MAD AT YA (The Brad is an acquired taste). :)

All joking aside, I'm actually speaking about temperature. For those who have known me during my speech/debate years, you have seen (and possibly felt...for which I'm sorry) that first hand. In a full suit, performing in a small overly-heated classroom, my brow becomes a multitude of perpetually perspiring pores that, when I move my head quickly, can easily become tiny projectiles seeking out unassuming spectators to bombard. It should be a lot like going to watch a show at Sea World, the first few rows should heed a warning that if you sit this close to the performer, you WILL get wet.

I know that is a VERY unattractive quality of mine, and many of you "Boy, howdie!" people are quickly changing your responses to "Eh, wrong!" Nonetheless, it is a truth about who I am. I am hot-natured. It has been proven time and time again. Whenever I circle up with a group of people and we hold hands to pray, 9 times out of 10 BOTH people feel (and possible comment) on how warm my hands are. Likewise, most hands I touch are dumbfoundingly chilly to me.

Moreover, when ever most people in the room are comfortable, I am burning up. When ever most everyone is cold, I'm right as rain. I try to keep my house at a cool 65 degrees during the day, and turn that down to 58 when I'm in bed. Sleeping under large blankets when it is two degrees below nipply all around me is one of my favorite "small pleasures" in the world...nay...the universe.

In Charlotte, I can wear shorts up almost to Halloween depending on where in the historic highs-to-lows spectrum the temperature falls. Now, don't get me wrong, I CAN get cold. In fact, what made me think of all this is the cold weather I have been experiencing the last several days here in the mountains of Tennessee. I've been walking the neighborhood with my dad each day, and most of the time when we get out to door and moving by 4:00 pm, I'm solid. However, a few nights ago we went out about 5:30 pm. With the wind in our face (and my stupidity in forgetting any insulated head wear) my ears felt like icicles, my nose felt like I had just dipped it in liquid nitrogen, and even my cheeks could have served as miniature ice rinks for a winter-themed flea circus.

Despite Jack Frost nipping at my entire facial structure, I was only in minor discomfort. I knew that had the end of the 1+ mile trek my father and I were on awaited a haven of warming bliss that is my parent's house. That's the thing. No matter how cold it gets, it is so much easier to get warmer than to cool down when it is unbearably hot. Blankets, space heaters, fires, another person's body heat (giggity, giggity!), and a multitude of other practical and creative ways of getting warm exist. Now, when I am burning up like two weasels going at it in a tube sock, what is there that can really make me cooler? Central air conditioning is bound to just cooling a structure, fans only push air, ice melts away...so tell me...why would anyone rather be hot than cold?

Yet gender seems to play a role in this. I'd say 95% of all women I meet HATE being cold and much rather be warm. I've seen this played out in the lives of my married friends whose homes were so delightfully chilled yet once they tie that knot, BAM!, the house heat-factor gets so toasty I feel like we are two blocks too close to an active volcano.

I guess that is one of those sacrifices for love that I'm sure, when the time comes, I'll be more than happy to make. (Others include having to share my bed with another human being, doubling my laundry duty, and watching more of the Oxygen channel). I just hope that whomever ends up with me understands that if that thermostat gets above 70, I'm going to start melting a way like Frosty the Snowman. And that won't be good for the furniture. I never quite understood the reasoning behind a husband creating a "man cave". I think I do now....caves are cold. And that is cool with me.


What I'm Into:

Bible Verse: "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm- neither hot nor cold- I am about to spit you out of my mouth." -Revelation 3:15-16

Song: "Ice Ice Baby" - Vanilla Ice. While I never really see myself as a person who could connect with this infamous white rapper from the early '90s, I think the song has a good message: colder is better. Hey, Vanilla must have known something as this song was the first hip-hop recording to top the Billboard Charts.

Movie: Ice Age- I don't care what they did for the entire movie or the sequels for that matter. The Scrat MADE this film. The hilarity in that pre-historic squirrel trying to get a nut is one of the funniest five minutes (give or take) that I've seen in any movie.