82 degrees

This was composed on September 16 but I have been plagued by fonts and leading that simply will not behave. Here goes nothing.

It rained today. Really. We were not about to squander our good fortune so my mom and I went to the playground and enjoyed the cool 82-degree afternoon that turned to evening and then to night. We stayed until they were about the slam the park gates shut. (My dad was working at the ACL festival tonight so he has no idea that my mom broke her own semi-strict rules about dinner at 6:45, followed by bath, then reading, and bed. I didn't even get home until after 8:00 and my veggie burger wasn't ready until 8:30 and I would have eaten five of them.)

While 82 degrees seemed almost unbearably hot in April, it felt chilly today. It was 22 degrees cooler than yesterday. At the park, I took my mom on yet another miles-long journey. I was overjoyed and laughed and hollered giddy up as I ran along the path that was sometimes a road, sometimes train tracks, and other times just a path. You cannot even imagine on how many 105 degree days we have driven past that playground and not stopped because it was too hot. No one has been to the park for months.

Now refer back to my April 2 post when I wrote this about what 82 degrees felt like:

Yesterday, we also broke the rule about no big morning outings before naptime. We were desperate to visit the playground before it got too hot. Little did we realize it would be 82 degrees before 11:00am and the day only got progressively worse. Our playground is lovely but it lacks shade; for whatever reason, they bulldozed down acres and acres of huge oak trees to make a park.

The heat really doesn't bother me. Other people complain - especially my mom. I have to remember: dad doesn't like cold or clouds or rain and mom doesn't like heat. In my short lifetime, I have played outside when it was around 10 degrees and more than 105. I like it all; I just want to be outside all day long every day.

But my mom was nice enough to follow me on my miles-long journey along the path to see the bridge and the wildflowers are in bloom and there are puppies to look at and big hills to climb and run back down. I can identify bluebonnets! smart me.