August post from B.C., Canada

Dog Days of Summer...


It sure has been hot (35 degrees celcius yesterday) in my little part of the world.
For this time of year, almost record breaking.
Don't get me wrong , all year round , I look forward to the summers heat.
Especially in the winter when the snow is almost waist deep.
Living in the desert of B.C. sure has taught us how to manage the day to stay cool.
The windows covered in the heat of the day, to keep the heat in the house to a minimum.
A/C on maximum, fans a blowing in every room that has no A/C.
Staying up till the birds come up some nights, sleeping till the afternoon, hours you could never keep Sept. to June. (thankfully, I work in the school system so I get the same holidays with my kids)
The dangers of a hot summer, is evident all around my Beautiful British Columbia.
In the air a haze as the smoke rises from the forest fires as they change the landscape.

When I was a kid, I remember those dog days of summer differently.
The world seemed alot cleaner, fresher some how. Yes, summers were hot and spent splashing around a pool somewhere.
Endless lazy days spent baking in the hot sun on a towel, day dreaming about my twin, listening to the radio.
Days so hot you couldn't wait for them to end. Enjoying those balmy nights listening to the crickets sing their song.
When you just wanted the season to change for the cooler temperature.
The second it cooled off, you would feel that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach knowing that back to school would be just around the corner.
School was a very difficult experience for me.
It was the place where I became painfully aware that I was very different from everyone else.
I was missing my twin, I was undiagnosed dyslexic, I had a definate learning disability, on top of all that, from chronic ear infections I was/am hard of hearing. I became a master lip reader and faked my way through.
I did not fit in, square peg, round hole.
I did not understand what was going on half the time. I had very few friends, no confidante.
My coping mechanism was to go off in my own little world. The world where it was Michael and I.
We were together, and it was me and him against this big, crazy world.
In the hot, dog days of summer we would play, sun up to sun down.
Only going home for food. Michael, Rocka (our golden lab) and I would chase the horses, bare footed with only our bathing suites on. Running the in back field (paddock), pretending we were running with our pack of wild mustangs.
Or we would hang up side down in the cherry tree, head to head, quietly giggling, spying on who ever was down below.
Or we would fall asleep under the stars, listening to the quiet sounds of summer.
Safe, secure, loved, and understood!
Where I was no longer ALONE, AFRAID, and HURTING.
The way be would have been, if this was the perfect world of my dreams.
Thankfully, I have had the summers unscheduled luxury to have been able to reflect on these precious, but forgotten lazy dog days of summer...
Thank-you Althea for this forum to share... Live in Peace and Peace Will Live in You!