It Warms My Soul…And My Knees
I’M NOT TERRIBLY SURE THAT I HAVE A VIABLE SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM. Then again I’m not sure if it is really a problem that needs to be solved or just a condition that must be endured.
I’m cold. I have been cold ever since we landed in Ireland and now that we are heading home soon I don’t see a change in the offing. We are returning to November. November does not hold much promise as a time of warm weather. It’s just not part of its makeup. That looks to be the prognosis until, at the earliest, late March/early April. And I’m putting a rosy glow on that idea.
Right now my backbone feels like it is made of permafrost, tundra, and out of work Snowmen. I have tried standing in front of open fires and all that has done is singe my sweatshirt. My spine remains icy cold.
Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a few days with my body on a beach toasting in warm sunlight and temperatures in the 80s or 90s even. Baking my brain in the sunlight by the sea. That is how I can thaw out my core and regain my sensibility, social civility, and physical mobility. As it stands right now my brain isn’t working above the level of a moss on the north side of a tree, my attitude toward others is privately loathsome, and every joint in my body is aching and making rude noises. When I stand up and walk across the room it sounds like I have a pocketful of castanets.
I have no false thoughts that I will ever be 25 years old again. I didn’t move all that well when I was that age. Anyway, there were so many negative things about my life in my twenties that I wouldn’t go back there on a bet. As far as feeling cold is concerned – I was living in Cleveland during those years and that is no place to be if you want to be warm for six months of any year.
No, I need a more practical answer. By “Practical’ I mean something that will help me feel warm again without resulting in bankruptcy, divorce, criminal indictment, or addiction to drugs. That shouldn’t be so difficult now should it?
I have already had some suggestions offered up most of which are impractical, painful, and/or involve thermonuclear explosions. And I will not honor the one that started out with, “Take a hot poker and stick it….”
A couple of days ago I used my phone to do a bit of research. I asked it to tell me, “Where is the warmest place in the country in November?” The answer came back – “South Florida.” I should have added “Without Hurricanes” to my initial query. But still… the Miami area has oodles of beaches and, even in November, it is in the mid 80s temperature-wise. I can live with that. I don’t know if I can live without that. Having this bit of information does really not make things any easier.
Such a short trip would also be, perhaps equally important, a time to put
my brain up on blocks, speak only when necessary, and be totally selfish with my who, what, why, where, when. It would put me in a warm isolation tank. Let my body warm up and let my mind pull the shades down. A few days in the sand would be a One Person Silent Retreat with the occasional cool drink.
I have to work this out. It is Important. It is Medicinal. It is What it is.
Down the Hall on Your Left 