Last Wednesday (I remember the day because it was so traumatic), I’m tidying up in the morning before work, when I suddenly look down and see my arm in the sunlight. What the heck? I’m thinking. The skin was all strange and bumpy, like an alien creature. My other arm was fine, but my left one was looking really weird.
I stared at it for a minute or so, trying to make sense of it. Have I come down with some strange disease in the night? That’s the arm I got my Covid shot in (two months ago). Is this some kind of side effect? Should I google it?
Then, the penny drops. It’s just the impression of the wrinkled bed sheet from the night before. This was in the
middle of that heat wave we just had, and I guess the sheets got all twisty or something.
But here’s the kicker. I’d been up for an hour and forty-five minutes! No exaggeration; I checked the clock. That’s just not right! Those marks should have disappeared, right? I mean, do I have no collagen left in my skin? I go find my husband.
“Charlie! Check this out.”
“What am I looking at, here?”
“My arm! I’ve had these marks all morning.”
“Huh. Is it itchy?”
“No! It just makes me look like an alien, is all.”
“Huh.”
“Is that all you have to say?”
I was kind of snappy because, man, that heat got to me in a way that it didn’t when I was younger. (‘Course, I
can’t remember having temperatures like that, back then.) Even with air-conditioning down to the A&P (which I’m grateful for), I was worn out after a day of people going, “Hot enough for ya?” Then you have to walk out into that furnace. I just leave all my car windows down during the day at work. One of the advantages of living in a small town, I guess.
It was too hot to cook, of course, so we went out to eat all three nights. That’s the good thing about getting older. You have nothing to prove, and you know how to ask for what you want. In this case, Bonanza, Hookilau and the Brew Ha Ha. And yes, we may have stopped at the DQ while we were at it. I mean, we were out and about anyways.
The old air conditioner in our bedroom was having a hard time keeping up, chugging along and sputtering like the antique it is. Charlie goes, “It’s better than nothing.” And it was! It kind of lulls you to sleep after a while, that and your husband’s snoring.
Back to my arm (in case you were wondering). I was worried that it might stay like that forever, but the next time I remembered to look at it, my arm was back to normal. Thank God! Just like the weather here in Mahoosuc Mills. All of a sudden, the heat wave broke and we’ve been having these beautiful summer days, clear skies, 70’s: just perfect. Collagen or no collagen, I’m enjoying every minute of it.
That’s it for now. Catch you on the flip side!
Hear Ida Tell it: What the Heck?
Ida’s Independence Day
Off Zoom & Back Onto the Stage
Live Shows: July 6-8 at 7:00pm, The Footlights Theatre in Falmouth, ME
Air-Conditioning + Laughter = a Fun Night Out