Hodge Podge of Thoughts

It is 9:30 AM here in sunny Qatar and the temperature is currently a brisk 102 degrees. Wait, now it's 10:12 and it is 106. YOWZAAAA.

Yesterday we reached a high of 117. Let me tell you what 117 degrees feels like. See, I had this thought that once you got past 105, that hot was just hot. Who could tell the difference between 107 and, say, 117? Well, it is actually pretty easy. Once it gets above 110 here things start to change. The door handles on the bathrooms burn you when you touch them, you have to cover your hand before turning knobs. When out in the sun for more than a minute or so, your hands, which are the only uncovered things on your body, feel as if someone is holding a flame to them. When you go to take your hat off or to adjust your sleeve, the fabric is VERY hot to the touch, like when you touch a steering wheel in a hot car. And your mouth gets so incredibly dry from walking from one building to another, even if you just downed an entire bottle of water. Only two words to describe this: good times.

[Edited for confusion]

I have been back in touch with some old friends lately and it has been wonderful, but also painful to know what hurtles life has brought some of us in the years that have passed. Still, I am consistenly amazed at the strength of the women I know, particularly the two I have in mind right now, and am blessed beyond belief to know them and to learn from them.

This week has been a busy one and is flying by at mach speeds. The only thing slow about it is the rate at which my green bananas are turning ripe, which is really slow.

I have been thinking a lot what heaven will be like when I get there, and I think it is going to look a lot like my childhood - it will be a perfect spring day, my grandmama and grandaddy will be sitting on the front porch in their rocking chairs with mason jars of sweet tea in their hands, and us kids will be running around in their yard barefoot, with the smell of honeysuckle and freshly mowed grass in the air. Yeah, that would be pretty amazing. I could go on, but no point in getting weepy this early in the morning, is there?

That's all I've got for now.

Love. xo