As a young girl, my mother always, and I mean always, insisted on using the air conditioning. I suspect it is due to her being born and raised in the New Orleans, southern Mississippi area (yes, I did just sing M-I-S-S, I-S-S, I-P-P-I to get it right).
Moving to Germany required adjustments to many things. For one, the weather here in NRW is far milder year-round than the weather in NE Ohio. Every summer, it hits about 90 degrees for all of 3 days. By the end of the third day, I am researching the costs of a room air conditioner, only to have the temperature drop back down to a lovely low- to mid-70s.
Normally, June is a month (as I remember) for the moderate weather.
But this week, we jumped from a nice cool 68 degrees to over 90.
It was miserable.
Hot.
(Not humid though – that was nice.)
But ridiculously hot.
And not that kind of hot where instead of cooking at home you could grab a bite in a nice air conditioned restaurants. Nope. Most restaurants do NOT have AC.
There is no escaping integrating oneself into life with German weather.
And then, today, the rains came. And they came hard and fast. Soaked Bubba Joe and I through and through even with our umbrellas – which are a standard German attire – within a few seconds.
But the temperature is back down to what I call a June normal.
And that makes me feel human again.
But today marks a special occasion for me – it was my last therapy appointment. I have been seeing a therapist for two years now. We discuss mostly what is going on in life at the moment, but have addressed the issues in my past, including postpartum depression, preeclampsia, prematurity, feelings of guilt and the desire to fix the world.
I really liked my therapist. She was open and honest and approachable (not what I had typically pictured as your stereotypical German therapist) and has helped me to become well, me again.
Turns out that I like me and that while I cannot change the world (why oh why don’t they do what I want them to do when I want them to do it) but I am making a change for the better in what I do and with whom I have contact with.
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