My Thoughts: Heat
Personal Essay: Hot Can Mean Many Things to a Woman:
Back when I was young and a natural brunette, I use to crave sitting in the hot sun for hours at a time. Hours with no tanning lotion, and no clue to what I was doing to my skin. I love a good leather purse, but I didn’t realize this is what my face would appear to be in my middle age. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley (Reseda, CA) and was honored to be an original Valley Girl. Most of us V.G.’s would sport long straight hair parted in the middle, hip huggers because few of us had been pregnant yet, sprayed-on bellbottom pants, smoke a cig on the sly, and tell our parents we were walking to school when we actually hitchhiked to the local donut shop. We would ultimately arrive at our first class fifteen minutes late, smelling like an astray. And, yes, we had wonderful suntans obtained with baby oil and iodine. Ah, those were the days… but I digress.
Tanning was great – tanning was In – tanning made us look better than we already did. Now let’s fast forward from my late teens to early forties. I was still obsessed with tanning when I lived in the Santa Clarita Valley (CA) where it would frequently climb to 103-109 degrees in the summer. I would take my egg timer, a cold drink, a towel and lay on the back deck while my husband stayed in the house with the A/C. I would lay one hour on my back, one hour on my tummy (no longer flat) then call it a day. After taking a cold bath to get the body temperature down, I would admire my tan in the bathroom mirror and think, “My, I look pretty damn good for my age.” The sun damage would pump up the skin around the eyes and lips, thereby filling in my wrinkles. I didn’t bother to moisturize, I just wanted tan naked skin. WHAT A DUMMY I WAS.
Now that I’m older and wiser and have lived in Whitefish for close to ten years, I realize how much I actually hate the heat, and how badly the sun can damage your skin if you don’t tan smartly. Is tanning actually smart? The verdict is still out. In Southern California I would welcome the “shake and bake” mentality and clap my hands with glee if the temp got up to 103. Now I watch the NW Montana weather report like a hawk, and if I see the temperature will be over 83 I’m down in the dumps. I don’t do heat anymore; I don’t do hardcore tanning anymore. I love my Montana summer temp to be somewhere between 77 and 82. Higher than that makes me crazy and cranky and, in all honesty, I’m not fond of perspiration. No matter how much baby powder and dry deodorant I do, I never feel really fresh in hot, hot weather. Of course, I’m older now and my skin is much thinner, and I need an excuse to be mean and short-tempered. It’s either blame the weather, blame the dog, the husband or the job. I try to alternate between these excuses for any bad behavior I may put out to the universe.
It took the husband and me nine years to purchase a small portable A/C. We always told ourselves that our hot weather was “just July and August” and then we would get back to normal. But the high temperatures took its toll on our moods, plus our dog who wears a German Shepherd coat all year long. The little black Sharp A/C unit was purchased at a big box store and came with a remote of all things – but more importantly, a button on the remote that’s called MEGA COOL. Gosh, we love to turn on the louvers option and then hit MEGA COOL when it’s 94 in Happy Valley. Then, and only then, can our little family of four be happy and content. [We can’t forget the indoor tabby cat that also wears a little fur coat.]
When I do decide to go outside to tan a wee bit, I take precautions – I do just twenty minutes with a large hat, and loads of expensive sunscreen. I then run into the house, take a cool bath, slather “Skin Nourishing Antioxidant Intensive Vitamin C Sun-Aging Defense Renewal Facial Cream” all over my face, neck and décolleté, then sit my fanny down in front of the A/C. Oh, how I love these Montana summers. Where, oh where, are my beautiful cool October days?
Back when I was young and a natural brunette, I use to crave sitting in the hot sun for hours at a time. Hours with no tanning lotion, and no clue to what I was doing to my skin. I love a good leather purse, but I didn’t realize this is what my face would appear to be in my middle age. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley (Reseda, CA) and was honored to be an original Valley Girl. Most of us V.G.’s would sport long straight hair parted in the middle, hip huggers because few of us had been pregnant yet, sprayed-on bellbottom pants, smoke a cig on the sly, and tell our parents we were walking to school when we actually hitchhiked to the local donut shop. We would ultimately arrive at our first class fifteen minutes late, smelling like an astray. And, yes, we had wonderful suntans obtained with baby oil and iodine. Ah, those were the days… but I digress.
Tanning was great – tanning was In – tanning made us look better than we already did. Now let’s fast forward from my late teens to early forties. I was still obsessed with tanning when I lived in the Santa Clarita Valley (CA) where it would frequently climb to 103-109 degrees in the summer. I would take my egg timer, a cold drink, a towel and lay on the back deck while my husband stayed in the house with the A/C. I would lay one hour on my back, one hour on my tummy (no longer flat) then call it a day. After taking a cold bath to get the body temperature down, I would admire my tan in the bathroom mirror and think, “My, I look pretty damn good for my age.” The sun damage would pump up the skin around the eyes and lips, thereby filling in my wrinkles. I didn’t bother to moisturize, I just wanted tan naked skin. WHAT A DUMMY I WAS.
Now that I’m older and wiser and have lived in Whitefish for close to ten years, I realize how much I actually hate the heat, and how badly the sun can damage your skin if you don’t tan smartly. Is tanning actually smart? The verdict is still out. In Southern California I would welcome the “shake and bake” mentality and clap my hands with glee if the temp got up to 103. Now I watch the NW Montana weather report like a hawk, and if I see the temperature will be over 83 I’m down in the dumps. I don’t do heat anymore; I don’t do hardcore tanning anymore. I love my Montana summer temp to be somewhere between 77 and 82. Higher than that makes me crazy and cranky and, in all honesty, I’m not fond of perspiration. No matter how much baby powder and dry deodorant I do, I never feel really fresh in hot, hot weather. Of course, I’m older now and my skin is much thinner, and I need an excuse to be mean and short-tempered. It’s either blame the weather, blame the dog, the husband or the job. I try to alternate between these excuses for any bad behavior I may put out to the universe.
It took the husband and me nine years to purchase a small portable A/C. We always told ourselves that our hot weather was “just July and August” and then we would get back to normal. But the high temperatures took its toll on our moods, plus our dog who wears a German Shepherd coat all year long. The little black Sharp A/C unit was purchased at a big box store and came with a remote of all things – but more importantly, a button on the remote that’s called MEGA COOL. Gosh, we love to turn on the louvers option and then hit MEGA COOL when it’s 94 in Happy Valley. Then, and only then, can our little family of four be happy and content. [We can’t forget the indoor tabby cat that also wears a little fur coat.]
When I do decide to go outside to tan a wee bit, I take precautions – I do just twenty minutes with a large hat, and loads of expensive sunscreen. I then run into the house, take a cool bath, slather “Skin Nourishing Antioxidant Intensive Vitamin C Sun-Aging Defense Renewal Facial Cream” all over my face, neck and décolleté, then sit my fanny down in front of the A/C. Oh, how I love these Montana summers. Where, oh where, are my beautiful cool October days?