Don't Sneeze

 

Winter is coming for me--I know it. All the more reason to fall in love with the warm October weekend we seem to get most every year in the Upper Midwest. The first one I remember is when my sister came to visit me in early October after my family had just moved into a new house. She flew in from New York and we decided to spend the weekend in Stillwater.

I was going through a phase where I kept losing my keys, so the weekend began with me frantically searching everywhere until I found them on the floor near my television. No idea why they were there. 

We started on the road about noon and I could tell it was going to be a hot one. Ninety degrees, so we were blasting the AC and couldn't wait to get out of the car. It took a while to find the hotel but it was beautiful and we were both so glad to be up there.

The weekend brought me out every morning for walks and we spent a lot of time talking about my sister's kinda-sorta boyfriend at the time, though I don't think it went anywhere. When we got home and I dropped her at the airport, the temperature started dropping too. 

The next weekend my husband and I had a housewarming party, and a few days later, I woke up sneezing and sniffling so violently I tore a hernia in my abdomen.

Beware the warm weather in October. Don't lift anything. Don't sneeze.

Fast forward to a new house (not all that very far from the old one). Another warm October, and after a flu shot on Friday, I am feeling kind of crummy, to tell you the truth. 

Somehow I also had a hernia this past April (20 years after the first one!) So I'm afraid of doing anything that could tear it again.

Don't lift anything. Don't sneeze.

I love the warmth out there, but the last thing I need is a chill. I decided the culprit is air conditioning, and I'm not going anywhere near it. Besides, we are not at 90 degrees, just at 75.

Still, I know winter is coming, like the Game of Throne actors used to say. And all I want is to stay out in the sunshine, because, you know. 

It gets colder every year.

Photo by Álvaro Bernal on Unsplash