Rattle Around in Your Bones

Dearest Rachel –

I hardly need to refresh your memory that summer is Daniel’s least favorite season. Despite this being common knowledge between us, he will often complain about the heat – and I can’t say as I blame him; it’s at least ten, and possibly as much as twenty degrees hotter up here than it was in Siguatapeque, where I was last week, despite being over three thousand kilometers further north. I keep telling him that he ought to dispense with wearing his trademark hoodies, and lounge around in just a T-shirt and a single pair of pants if he’s so hot, but he worries that, if he does so, and he’s still too hot, what is there left for him to strip off?

And as ridiculous as that may sound, I actually kind of understand him, since I’m coming from the opposite side of his concern. Our bedroom, as you know, does not benefit from the HVAC system that was a part of the house, since it was an add-on from a decade or so later. As such, it’s only through the benefit of a ceiling fan and a portable tower A/C that the room is even habitable on summer nights like this. You and I would, of course, wear as little as possible to bed, as a consequence – which you would think would lead to at least a few fun nights, but as you preferred mornings for that kind of activity, well… what can you do?

In any event, last night was too hot for me to fall asleep – or maybe it was too hot to stay asleep; I’m not sure which, offhand. If I could remove another layer from myself in order to get comfortable, I would, but it’s like I think I remember your mom saying from time to time when we would arrive at your childhood home; “Come on in, and take off your skin, and rattle around in your bones.”

(By the way, I had to look that expression up after hearing it in my head this morning at around one or so. I know you remember it from an episode of M*A*S*H, but if your mom was using it commonly, I would have expected it to have been in parlance before the mid-seventies, when the episode containing the quote came out. Sure enough, there’s an old song with a similar line in it that dates from juuust before she was born. To be sure, the opening phrase is apparently “’tain’t no sin to take off your skin, and dance around in your bones,” but you get the idea.)

In any event, you can guess that I was admitting that he had a point; if he could acclimatize himself to wearing two and even three layers of clothing even this level of heat, he’d still have the option of peeling one of them off if things get that much worse, whereas I was pretty much stuck. And that’s all but literal, as I very well found myself stuck to my sheets, trying to fall back asleep, but too warm to do so (which is weird, as being sufficiently warm in winter is the perfect excuse to fall asleep, and stay asleep, for extended periods of time. But here and now? It’s just downright uncomfortable).

I suppose his layering tactics also have to do with the fact that, unlike me, our son doesn’t have much in the way of natural insulation. I’ve shed a lot of pounds over the past couple of years – Lord only knows how unpleasant this heat wave would be for me if I hadn’t – but I still have a long ways to go before I’m as comfortable (if you can call it that, considering his antipathy) with these temperatures as he is. Indeed, I’ll probably never get to the point where I’m as much skin-and-bones as he is – I don’t think he’s even reached my high school weight, for that matter, and I doubt I’ll ever get back to that point again, either.

Still, I probably should get off to the gym this morning, and sweat a few more pounds off if I can. Maybe once I do, I’ll feel that much cooler when I’m done. It’s not like it would be hard to do so; even the walk between here and there will have me sweating a bit (although at the moment, my computer states that it’s only in the mid-seventies), so I’m sure I’ll lose that much more insulation between now and then. Not sure what kind of difference it will make, though, since the temperature rises faster than I can drop pounds off.

Still, if you could keep an eye on me as I try, honey, and wish me luck, I’d certainly appreciate it. After all, I’m going to need it.