Would that be irony — or just a crying shame? Who the hell knows? All I know is that old saying stood me well for a good couple of weeks. I now require a saying reflecting my surroundings. I need something hot. Godawfully hot.
For you see, it is Godawfully hot here in Beaumont, Texas. It is the heat. It is the humidity. This is the third time I have moved here. I suppose I like 11-month steam baths and mosquitoes the size of the Predator unmanned aerial vehicles the Army uses.
I told a friend of mine who lives here that I will get used to the humidity. I think I told her that as I was melting into a Margaret Hamilton-like puddle.
I’ve had a horrible two days since I moved in my place. It’s a long story involving insomnia and I won’t bore you with the details. But I felt better today and actually got out and took a walk in my neighborhood.
It was about 11 a.m. when I went walking. It wasn’t so bad. There are plenty of trees, big trees, with big limbs and leaves in the neighborhood. And by the afternoon I was feeling like I might just make it after all, no matter the heat or humidity.
My feelings were helped even more as I was later riding along the boulevard and had this incredible feeling come over me like I actually belong in this place. It’s not a bad feeling, but it is strange because during the past seven years I spent in Waco, Texas, I never once really felt at home.
I’m not going to use two “Wizard of Oz” references in this post and say: “There’s no place like home.” But I feel okay about where I am right this moment. I just hope I don’t evaporate.