It was 96 degrees in my car when I left work today, and I left the windows and the sunroof open, and parked in the shade.
It is only May 10.
I ain’t sayin’, I’m just sayin’.
When I was growing up, central heat and air was not the norm. When the Dublin Mall was built, it was advertised as The Climate Controlled Dublin Mall.
Houses then were built to accommodate the heat – higher ceilings and thicker walls, and doors and windows positioned in such a way that you could open the right ones and get the cross draft, plus there were the shade trees.
We had window units, but we only used them if we had company or for some other special occasion. Otherwise, it was the miraculous oscillating fan, or a box fan in a window, drawing the hot air out of the room and into the night.
I went to school without air conditioning, and lived in dorms and some apartments without air conditioning, and I lived to tell the tale. Why, I had to walk to school in snowdrifts taller than a grown man!
I had a car without air conditioning and I drove all over the place with what I really wanted to wear and when I got where I was going, I’d hop out of the car and change clothes right beside it.
Now the heat just makes me ornery and I’ve been known to ask people who invite me places what the air conditioning situation will be, just in case I need to decline.
I come by it honestly though, because my daddy’s that way, too. Several years ago, I was talking to Granny about my uncle Bobby’s motorcycle and asked her if she was worried Daddy was going to get one. She looked at me like I had two heads and said, “No, shug, your daddy likes air conditioning too much to ride a motorsiccle.”
Just like a Slattery 
I’m the same way about the heat. Now it’s not too hot up here — yet — but just the thought of summer’s heat and humidity is enough to put me in a mood. I’m already looking forward to the fall.
I try to maintain a steady 72-degree existence.
–Why, I had to walk to school in snowdrifts taller than a grown man!–
You most certainly did not.
Ha! Busted! I can’t even stand 55 degrees in Minnesota in September!
Growing up in North Carolina, my 1979 Malibu Classic did not have air conditioning, and I never missed it, not even once. When my boyfriend and I rented our first house in Raleigh, inside the beltline, right by the dog food factory, it had no air conditioning, but it was an old house built for the Southern summers. Never missed it.
Then I moved to Chicago in 1998 and those first few winters about killed me with their cold and their snow and their icy winds. Lord have mercy. Now, 13 years in, I don’t even own a winter coat (though I do have scarves, gloves, mittens, and plenty of wool and cashmere sweaters). I’m going to be going back to NC at the end of July for a baby shower, and the thought of going to NC in the middle of summer, where the air is so hot you can barely breathe, well, that thought is about killing me. I’m not sure if I’ll survive.
I tried to take Gnarly to the playground yesterday. After 30 minutes, we were both dripping and had finished our bottles of water, and she wasn’t interested anyway, so we went and got ice cream instead. I wonder what we’ll do when it’s always over 90 and I’m even bigger.
I hate heat. Cleveland and Chicago summers were often mild, but not always. There were at least 2 summers that were over 90 for weeks at a time, and a/c is not the norm in apartments, which are, of course, built to retain heat, not give it off. We had a window unit and a box fan, and then I dropped the window unit out the window. So we spent lots of time at work and in the library, both of which had a/c aplenty. I hate cold, icy winters, but heat I just cannot do, so I’m just glad GA has a/c standard.