According to reports, a cold front has moved in and though we’ve found some small relief from the oppressive heat, the clouds and cool mist blowing through these suburbs are sapping my energy all the same. It’s only 9:00 AM and I already need a nap.
At least the wildfire smoke has lifted. It’s nice to see the blue sky and to have safe air to breathe again. There were days there when my nose would not stop running, nor would my throat stop itching. I was miserable but I imagine those with asthma, other respiratory conditions, and long covid were feeling it worse than me.
I’m paying close attention to the news of vaccine boosters becoming available in the coming weeks to months. I check my email hoping for advice from my doctors or instructions to make appoints as they become available. As someone who has a chronic autoimmune condition and who is taking multiple medications to keep my system suppressed, losing vaccine efficacy could mean severe illness or reactivation of my symptoms. I have no doubt that I should have a booster, it’s only a matter of when.
For now, I’m doing my best to get back into a habit of wearing a mask, sanitizing, and washing my hands at regular intervals. For the most part, I have kept these habits, but with the school year starting up, social distancing is now nearly impossible. I’m no longer working sequestered in my tiny corner of an office. I’m out with my coworkers, with kids, and visiting schools and parents. I have to start being careful again.
We’ve had our first tornado warnings of the season this afternoon. Most years tornados touch down in the early summer, but it seems we’ve had fewer storms and longer stretches of blistering heat instead. I spent nearly 20 minutes in a high school hallway packed with kids waiting for the warning to clear. The threat of tornados passed, but the heavy rain, high winds, and large hail stuck around through the hour at least. Luckily, beyond soaked clothing and backpacks, the kids fared well and made it home fine.
I’m a bit shaken up, but not from fear. These storms have always awakened a strange excitement in me. I’ve never been able to describe exactly why I feel this way, but just seeing the thunderheads marching over the mountains and rolling east over the plains brings me to life. I swear I can sense the static linking the ground with the clouds, and I have a strong urge to get outside and feel the volatile air on my skin. I want the cool rain running down my arms and the hail beating my back. I want to touch lightning.
Lisa Marie Blair 