Heat Wave

Summer has crept up behind us unnoticed, until we opened our doors one morning to be greeting my stifling heat instead of evaporating nighttime chill. It’s as though the weather glanced at the calendar, jumped up in surprised guilt, and immediately set about giving us temperatures worthy of opening outdoor pools on Memorial Day.
The heat dulls my senses and settles in my mind like a stupor. Summer noon renders me just as unproductive as those cold, dark winter mornings when I’m reluctant to throw off the covers and put my bare feet on the chilly floor.
The sun melts my thoughts and fear crawls in my belly. A wave of heat rolls over me and I break out in a sweat. I feel ill—maybe I’m coming down with something. I want to lie down under the breeze of an electric fan until just one good thought comes to me. Instead, I find the thought and then I rest while it sinks in. “Make haste more slowly,” it says softly. “Build your dreams one brick at a time.”